+ How Does AOA Select its medical student members?

We select student members from each USU class in the spring after completion of their core clerkships and USMLE step 1 exams.

Only students in the top quartile of their class, based on pre-clerkship and clerkship honors, will be considered.

We use the following criteria to select student applicants:

Professionalism- all potential applicants will be vetted with OSA to verify they have no substantiated honor violations, UCMJ violations, other legal actions, or are otherwise not in good standing with the student promotions committee or command. Any student found to have these or other indicators of lacking professionalism won't be considered.

Academics- Points will be assigned based on the number of honors earned during the pre- and core clerkships, and the USMLE step 1.

Research- Points will be assigned based on the level of work achieved, and the number of projects. Local/regional presentations get less points than national ones, and posters get less than podiums, which get less than journal articles. The highest possible points will be awarded for first or second author peer reviewed journal articles.

Leadership- Applicants will be assessed for leadership potential and their demonstrated commitment during medical school. Examples include class officership and interest group officership, but many other areas are possible. The amount of time spent and number of people led will be considered.

Service- Applicants will be assessed for their demonstrated commitment during medical school. Examples include tutoring, charity work, and TA or study group organization within their class, but many other areas are possible. The amount of time spent will be considered.

Other- Other achievements will be considered that are not covered by the categories above. This is the only category where achievement before med school will be considered if it is truly impressive. This category is intentionally very broad as it is intended to capture everything we cannot predict, so examples are somewhat futile.

+ How does AOA select its new faculty, alumni, fellow, or resident members?

Nominations can be made by a program director, department chair, or existing AOA member. If you would like to nominate a Faculty Member, Resident, Fellow, or USUHS alumnus (greater than 10 years out from graduation) for AOA please compose a letter of nomination stating reasons for recommending the candidate. Application packages are evaluated based five areas: scholarship (i.e. academic achievement/research), leadership, service, professionalism, and teaching/mentoring. The letter and other required information may be submitted on this website here.

+ Is this chapter only for USU Students and Alumni?

No! This chapter of AOA serves all AOA members in the uniformed services, regardless of where they went to school or in which chapter they were initially inducted. Thus, this is the largest active AOA chapter. If you're an AOA member in the uniformed services, we'd love to connect with you!

+ When are selections made?

Selections of both medical students and physicians are made in the spring.

+ In what activities does this chapter of AOA participate?

Some of our recent activities have included:

• Alumni Outreach program created a quarterly e-newsletter and published first two editions that were sent out to our AOA chapter members keeping them abreast of current activities.
• Student Outreach program hosted our annual peer-to-peer session for medical students transitioning from pre-clerkship to the clerkship phase of medical eduction.
• Chapter hosted annual Military Medical Specialty Night showing residency and fellowship programs: featuring over 50 programs from our local area and as far Hawaii, California, and Texas; and more than 150 students attended.
• Community Service program continues to support the Washington DC area community through the N Street Village program promoting education of women’s health issues and Bethesda Cares providing medical support to the homeless in DC.
• Chapter member, Dr. Joshua Hartnell (LTC US Army), was selected for AOA National first annual Fellow in Leadership award, completed Harvard Macy Scholars program, and presented project at 2015 AOA National Board Meeting.
• Chapter President, Jeremy Bolin (MS4), was selected as new Student Director for AOA National Board and attending 2015 AOA National Board Meeting.
• We are currently in development of a number of faculty and resident awards recognizing excellence in medical education. We also plan to offer a fellowship award with a modest stipend. Stay tuned for more details!

+ Does this AOA chapter collect dues?

Yes, we request that new chapter members pay $35 and alumni $25 annually in addition to the dues collected by the national organization. Dues payment permits our organization to continue and expand its efforts to recognize excellence in medicine, and to support the various activities described above. Please remit payment here.