The AMSA Foundation Creates Next Generation of CAM Leaders at 2007 Leadership Training Program

The AMSA Foundation’s fifth annual Leadership Training Program (LTP) brought together 20 medical students from across the country to learn about the philosophies, history and techniques of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). A distinguished faculty of physicians and traditional CAM practitioners engaged students in topics such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, and meditation. This year’s program, held last June and hosted by the Omega Center for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York, also trained students in leadership and advocacy skills including career development, public speaking, grant writing, and project planning.

More than just five days at the Omega Institute, the LTP equips students to become the next generation of CAM leaders. To reach this goal, the AMSA Foundation assists participants in developing well-defined projects to enhance CAM education at their schools. Past projects have included community health fairs and CAM mentoring programs.

One of this year’s proposed projects is “Iron Chef Nutrition,” a student-led project that will teach first and second year medical students how to use food to create and maintain healthy lifestyles for both their future patients and for themselves.

Over the five years of the program, 103 students from 65 MD and DO schools across the country have participated in the CAM LTP. The program is sponsored by the AMSA Foundation and supported by Walgreens and the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. To learn more, please click here .