Student Organizations: Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society

Alpha Omega Alpha is the only national honor medical society in the world. Its mission is to recognize and perpetuate excellence in the medical profession. As stated in the society's constitution:

 “Alpha Omega Alpha is organized for educational purposes exclusively and not for profit, and its aims shall be the promotion of scholarship and research in medical schools, the encouragement of a high standard of character and conduct among medical students and graduates and the recognition of high attainment in medical science, practice and related fields.”

 To fulfill this role, Alpha Omega Alpha elects outstanding medical students to its ranks. Individual members must have excelled academically and shown promise of becoming leaders in the profession. According to the AOA Constitution, “Those candidates whose scholastic qualifications place them in the upper 25% of their class shall be considered for election. From that number, 1/6 of the total number of the class expected to graduate may be elected to membership.”

AOA Chapter at Michigan
The AOA Constitution states that individual chapters should establish procedures to apply the national criteria for election of new members. At the University of Michigan, based on a class size of 170, we are permitted to consider up to 43 students and can elect 30 students per class. Since the institution of Pass/Fail grading of the pre-clinical years, the distinction between "junior" and "senior" AOA has been eliminated. Election by faculty committee is based largely on M3 grades (appropriately weighted by clerkship length), with a small percentage coming from USMLE Step 1 scores. M4 grades and USMLE Step 2 scores are not included when determining membership. Furthermore, since student membership is composed entirely of M4s, those taking time off following their third year of medical school will be considered for the next year's AOA class. All students honored with membership will be informed in the late summer of their M4 year, prior to submission of residency program applications.  This year marks the 100th anniversary of AOA at Michigan.

Each year, students of AOA organize various activities that take place throughout the remainder of the academic year. Some events planned for this year include:

Nomination of select faculty for membership
Nomination of faculty from the community to receive the Volunteer Faculty Award
Banquet with official recognition and keynote address by Dr. Ted Harris

2007-2008 Student Officers
President: Jeff Mako
Vice President: Steve Gross
Secretary: Mike Krug
Treasurer: Robbi Kupfer

We would like to thank the following faculty members for their ongoing support of our AOA chapter activities:
Faculty Counselor: Cyril Grum, M.D.
Faculty Advisor: Gilbert Upchurch, M.D. (through 2009)
Faculty Advisor: James Stanley, M.D. (through 2010)
Faculty Advisor: Sanjay Saint, M.D. (through 2011)
Faculty Advisor: Liz Petty, M.D. (through 2012)

 Further information about Alpha Omega Alpha can be found at www.alphaomegaalpha.org