Below is a listing of all of the Pritzker School of Medicine’s student organizations. For questions about funding or administering a student organization, please visit the Dean’s Council page. For a listing of student organization events, please visit our Calendar of Events.
Click here to see a listing of student groups that are currently inactive.
ASAP is an interactive substance abuse prevention program in which University of Chicago medical students visit local middle schools and teach 6th-8th graders about the consequences of using drugs. Teaching with healthy and diseased organ specimens, the program leaders use the natural curiosity of the students to shape small group discussion concerning drugs, the human body, and the effects of drugs on the students' minds, bodies, and life goals. Ultimately, the program aims to empower youth to make healthier life choices regarding drugs and alcohol.
Contacts: Nicholas McKenzie
Faculty Advisor: Jon Grant, JD, MD, MPH, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
The mission of American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Medical Student Chapter is to provide early support and leadership training to medical students exploring a career in neurosurgery. AANS Medical Student Chapters will provide a forum for students to organize professional, educational, and research activities within individual programs, promote mentorship, and facilitate participating at a national level for the next generation of neurosurgical leaders.
Contacts: Je Yeong Sone
Faculty Advisor: Paramita, Das, MD, MS, Department of Surgery
To introduce and expose 1st and 2nd year medical students to Anesthesiology, and to create a student network and provide mentoring for those pursuing Anesthesiology.
Contacts: Eric Arellano and John Sun
Faculty Advisor: David Glick, MD, Biological Sciences Division, Anesthesia and Critical Care
The American Medical Student Association is committed to improving health care and healthcare delivery to all people; promoting active improvement in medical education; involving its members in the social, moral and ethical obligations of the profession of medicine; assisting in the improvement and understanding of world health problems; contributing to the welfare of medical students, premedical students, interns, residents and post-MD/DO trainees; and advancing the profession of medicine.
Contact: Rachel Rolinski
Faculty Advisor: Joyce Tang, MD, Department of Medicine
The University of Chicago Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (APAMSA) seeks to promote health for all Asian and Pacific Islander communities and individuals through community action and health education.
Contacts: Yujin Shin
Faculty Advisor: Karen Kim, MD, Department of Medicine
The Pritzker Basic Life Support (BLS) Program offers a required training program to ensure all medical students are proficient in BLS skills.
Contact: Teresa Xiao
To organize group bike rides to various brunch spots around Chicago, and provide practical bike maintenance training to medical students.
Contact: Jackson Moran
Faculty Advisor: David Beiser, MD, Emergency Medicine
In 2005, the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Board published a white paper describing the core competencies of biomedical informatics graduate training. Since then, the field of biomedical informatics has continued to formalize: ACGME subspecialty certifications in clinical informatics are now available, Masters programs are increasing in number, and medical schools are beginning to integrate informatics into their formal curriculum. Our mission as the Biomedical Informatics Interest Group is to foster discussion of biomedical informatics concepts, to expose medical students to this budding field, and to encourage medical trainees to pursue research opportunities and formal education in the arena.
Contact: Sid Ramesh
Faculty Advisor: Samuel Volchenboum, MD, Department of Pediatrics
The mission of the Bridgeport Free Clinic (BFC) is to make healthcare more accessible for underserved residents of the Bridgeport community, with a focus on the Asian and Asian-American population. The clinic focuses on screening and urgent care for conditions that affect Asian patients more commonly, including hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, Hepatitis B, liver disease, and smoking. In addition, the clinic helps enroll patients in insurance plans through navigators for the Affordable Care Act, and refers patients to nearby Federally Qualified Health Centers for comprehensive primary care services. Interpretive services in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Spanish are available for all clinic patients.
Contact: Amanda Zhang and Anthony Hung
Faculty Advisor: Karen Kim, MD, Department of Medicine
The Bucksbaum Interest Group (BIG) is focused on creating opportunities for students to participate in Bucksbaum Institute programs in order to foster greater understanding of the doctor-patient relationship. BIG will bring medical students in closer contact with the nearly 40 Junior and Senior Bucksbaum Institute Faculty Scholars for mentoring, research and educational opportunities.
The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence was created to improve patient care, to strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and to enhance communication and decision-making through research and education programs for medical students, junior faculty and master clinicians.
Recognizing student interest in the Bucksbaum Institute, BIG will provide a forum for the broader student body to engage in the Bucksbaum Institute mission.
Contact: Mark Chee
Faculty Advisor: Mark Siegler, MD, Department of Medicine
The Business in Medicine Interest Group will provide students with an exposure to the business side of medicine, aiming to provide inspiration for further pursuit of business educations. BMIG believes that physicians with added business knowledge will be more equipped to handle economic issues surrounding the healthcare industry. Ultimately, BMIG would like to provide interested students with ample opportunities to explore their business interests in an open, friendly arena of thought and discussion with peers, faculty mentors, and guest speakers.
Contact: Je Yeong Sone, Pranav Haravu, and Siddhi Ramesh
Faculty Advisor: Mohammed Minhaj, MD, MBA, Department of Anesthesia & Critica Care
Our mission is to foster collaboration among medical student-run free clinics across Chicagoland to enhance the quality of care for our patients by promoting best practices, sharing resources, and building community.
Contact: Santiago Avila
Faculty Advisor: Jim Woodruff, MD, Pritzker Student Affairs and Programs
Chicago Street Medicine is a systematic approach of delivering care and support to those experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The goals of which are to develop working relationships with those sleeping on the streets and to improve their quality of life through connecting them to medical care, as well as other social services that address harm reduction, housing, mental health, and basic income.
Contact: Amrita Mohanty and Zi-Yi Choo
Faculty Advisor: Abdullah Pratt, MD, Department of Medicine
To provide patients at the clinic with high quality care and to ensure positive learning experiences for students and teaching experiences for residents and attendings. We also strive to work with the CommunityHealth administration to improve UofC’s clinic. This past year, we were part of CHC’s successful implementation of a new electronic medical record system and transition to a continuity-model of care, including assuming responsibility for reviewing patient labs. We successfully increased physician recruitment and decreased patient wait times. This year, we hope to increase student and attending proficiency with EMR, further increase physician recruitment, and establish a streamlined approach to using the system that further cuts patient wait times. In addition, all new board members are setting individual goals in their committee areas (e.g., fund raising or education).
Contacts: Max Ackerman and Briyana Chisholm
Faculty Advisor: Rita Rossi-Foulkes, FAAP, FACP, MD, MS, Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics
We want to educate fellow students at Pritzker of the opportunities and benefits of the field of Dermatology. This includes the research and clinical opportunities, how to get into the field, and provide access to Dermatologists. We hope to bring in fourth years, residents, interns and Dermatologists to explain what Dermatology is and if it is a good fit for the student.
Contact: Teresa Xiao and Karina Grullon Perez
Faculty Advisor: Arlene Ruiz de Luzuriaga, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine
The purpose of this organization shall be to provide community based glucose and blood pressure screenings. Provisions to expand our services will be up to the discretion of the board and the needs of the community. We shall follow our community based screenings with community based diabetes and health related education programming in order to expand the knowledge base of the community as well as to empower individuals to take charge of their own health.
Contact: Manizha Kholmatov, Amrita Mohanty, Reem Hamoda and Alexa Uribe
Faculty Advisor: Deborah Burnet, MD, MA, Department of Medicine
Doctors for America at Pritzker aims to close the gap between clinical medicine and public health advocacy by empowering medical students and physicians to move the needle on key political, social, and economic issues that impact the health of our patients, communities, and city.
Contacts: Kevin Ashi and Camron Shirkhodaie
Faculty Advisor: Ram Krishnamoorthi, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine
Docs and Debate aims to promote awareness of societal topics outside of medicine and to sustain open, respectful dialogue among our diverse student body. Docs and Debates believes that being aware of current events domestically and abroad are part of being an active and engaged citizen. We strive to be a forum where students are able to discuss their inquiries about areas they are interested in advocating for. Through these discussions where fellow classmates share their perspectives and life experiences, Docs and Debates will be a space where students will find value in listening to different opinions and find common ground to work with peers on impacting change in the topics we discuss.
Contacts: Devika Jaishankar and Matthew Dulas
Faculty Advisor: Jason Alexander, MD, Department of Medicine
The Emergency Medicine Interest Group (EMIG) seeks to spread information among students interested in the field of emergency medicine. We organize procedure workshops and simulation experiences as well as lectures by and discussions with EM physicians. In addition, we encourage students to take advantage of shadowing opportunities in the Mitchell ER.
Contacts: Ryan Johnson, Max Ackerman, and Meredith Yang
Faculty Advisor: Keme Carter, MD, Department of Medicine
The ENT interest group serves to introduce Pritzker students to the medical specialty of Otolaryngology or Ear Nose and Throat (ENT). We strive to expose students to the specialty through events and networking opportunities with the ENT faculty here at UChicago.
Contacts: Tommy Cyberski and Karina Grullon Perez
Faculty Advisor: Fuad Baroody, MD, Department of Medicine
The mission of the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) is to foster the interests in Family Medicine among the students in the Pritzker School of Medicine. The FMIG introduces the spirit of family medicine to Pritzker students by hosting guest speakers, offering procedure clinics directed to medical students, and sponsoring students to attend the national FMIG conferences.
Contacts: Jackson Moran
Faculty Advisor: Sonia Oyola, MD, Department of Family Medicine
The Geriatrics Interest Group (GIG) is a group of Pritzker students and faculty advisors dedicated to promoting student interest in geriatrics through educational, social, and community outreach programs.
Contacts: Alexa Uribe
Faculty Advisor: Tia Kostas, MD, Department of Family Medicine
To expose Pritzker medical students to the increasing presence of genetics in medicine and to connect students to a network of mentors who incorporate genetics into their research and clinical practice.
Contacts: Gabriel Casella
Faculty Advisor: Darrel Waggoner, MD, Department of Genetics
Contacts: Diana Li and Nick McKenzie
Faculty Advisor: John Schneider MD, Department of Medicine
The purpose of this organization shall be to provide undergraduate and medical students an opportunity to serve as mentors and friends to minority high school students who are underrepresented in medicine. The definition of minorities who are underrepresented in medicine as defined by the American Association of Medical Colleges is: ‘Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.’ These high school students come from high schools throughout the area to the University of Chicago campus once a month where they participate in a variety of lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities with the goal of giving insight into the life as a health professional as well as an opportunity to connect with medical students and physicians.
Contacts: Conrad Fletcher and Ehizokha Ihionkhan
Faculty Advisor: Monica Vela, MD, Department of Medicine
The purpose of HOPS is to provide fun, hands-on opportunities for students to learn the unique art, science and skill of home brewing (making beer at home). Through lessons and brewing sessions the group explores teh steps of the brewing process from grain to glass, as well as the biological, chemical, and physical transformations that occur along the way. We hope to share our passion for this 4,000 year old hobby adn cultivate an appreciation for craft beer.'
Contacts: Jackson Moran
Faculty Advisor: Kyle Hogarth, MD, Department of Biological Sciences Division, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
The goals are to harness interest in Internal Medicine amongst medical students at Pritzker, promote the field, and facilitate interactions between interested students and faculty within internal medicine and sub-specialties.
Contacts: Manizha Kholmatov and Reem Hamoda
Faculty Advisor: Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP, Department of Medicine
Our goal is to provide a space where Pritzker students can learn about global health and engage with international health opportunities and research at the University of Chicago. We hope to be a bridge between students and the faculty who have expertise in global health to further the collective knowledge of international medicine.
In addition, we hope to provide students with a path to explore international medicine outside of Scholarship & Discovery or the Student Research Program.
Contact: Valerie Otti & David Obadina
Faculty Advisor: Stephen Schrantz, MD, Department of Medicine & Pediatrics
The purpose of the IRIG is to introduce medical students to the field of interventional radiology, especially due to both the lack of exposure to the field in preclinical curriculum and the new residency pathway that more institutions are now adopting. Furthermore, we believe increased student contact with IR to be critical, as the breadth of IR responsibilities in patient care and referrals continues to expand. We hope to not only build student interest in this new and exciting field, but also build relationships among physicians,residents, fellows, and medical students as a further opportunity for mentorship, research, and navigating residency options. We will collaborate with other Chicago-area and regional IRIGs to promote student exposure to and involvement in IR. Our goals reflect the broader educational goals of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and we will encourage student participation on a national level.
Contacts: Monica Matsumoto and Ryan Judd
Faculty Advisor: Rakesh Navuluri, Department of Radiology
The Jewish Medical Student Association sponsors social and educational events including speakers and seminars on topics involving Judaism and medicine for Jewish medical students and others who are interested in learning about Judaism.
Contacts: Adriana Sari, Julian Conn Busch, and Suzette Guzman
Faulty Advisor: Louis Philipson, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine
In the spirit of interdisciplinary scholarship and discovery we aim to tap into the diverse passions and interests of our classmates by coordinating a journal club-style seminars to allow discussion of research, policy, and anything else of interest to our medical community.
Contacts: Ian Waters, Sophie Son, and Alec Kacew
Faulty Advisor: Adam Cifu, MD, Department of Medicine
JOURNEES seeks to expose medical students to the health care needs of diverse patient populations beyond that of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Through direct service-learning experiences, we hope to gain awareness of the social determinants of diminished health conditions in underserved areas and to assist community organizations working to alleviate poor health outcomes throughout the country.
Contacts: Jess Guillaume, Tim Shen, and Manizha Kholmatov
Faculty Advisor: Sonia Oyola, MD, Department of Family Medicine
The purpose of Knitzker Group is to provide medical students with a space and community to de-stress from schoolwork as well as learn a relaxing, practical and tactile skill together. Members will knit projects together, learning various yarn work skills, and, hopefully try to reach out to the University community and hospital communities.
Contacts: Diana Li
Faculty Advisor: Keme Carter, MD, Department of Medicine
We are a community founded to represent, support, and unify Latino(a) medical students. We are dedicated to increasing the ranks of underrepresented minority medical students and faculty, serving underserved communities, and creating an environment conducive to the extraordinary success of Latino medical students here at Prtizker. Visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/LMSA.Pritzker/.
Contact: Alexa Uribe, Maria Ruiz, Christian Gonzales
Faculty Advisor: Monica Vela, MD, Department of Medicine
The mission of the University of Chicago Maria Shelter Health Clinic is to provide superior health care in a compassionate manner, ever mindful of each patient’s dignity and individuality. To accomplish our mission, we call upon the skills and expertise of all who work together to advance medical innovation, serve the health needs of the community and further the knowledge of those dedicated to caring.
Contacts: Louisa Baidoo and Camron Shirkhodaie
Faculty Advisor: Andy Davis, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine
The mission of Medical Chinese is to teach medical Chinese terms and phrases to beginner and intermediate level Chinese speakers that will aid them in conducting a medical history in Chinese. With the recent opening of Bridgeport Free Clinic in the underserved Bridgeport area where over 35% of the population is Chinese, Medical Chinese is a timely initiative to train Pritzker students interested in volunteering with BFC. Needs assessments conducted by BFC in February 2015 showed that many in the community lacked sufficient English proficiency, with over a quarter of those surveyed needing an interpreter when seeing a doctor. The recent PINE Report conducted by the Chinese Health, Aging, and Policy Program showed that the language barrier is even higher in the elderly, with 76% of those surveyed speaks only Chinese. The language training provided by Medical Chinese will prepare BFC volunteers to communicate with patients in their native language and help strengthen the bond between clinic volunteers and community members. Knowledge of Medical Chinese will also be useful for Pritzker students in the future, as they will undoubtedly encounter many Chinese Americans in their medical practices.
Contacts: Gege Ran
Faculty Advisor: Carina Yang, MD, Department of Radiology
Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) is dedicated to ensuring that women receive the full range of reproductive health care choices. MSFC recognizes that one of the greatest obstacles to safe and legal abortion is the absence of trained providers. We work to educate our classmates on reproductive health issues, keep them up to date on relevant current events, and maintain a supportive environment with the hope of creating future generations of abortion providers and pro-choice physicians.
Contact: Teresa Xiao, Dana Anderson, and Devon Lewis
Faculty Advisor: Julie Chor, MD, MPH, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Our mission is to provide a home for MENA-identified students and facilitate a variety of events such as mentoring, service, lectures, social and cultural events. This organization will consist of socials to promote bonding, faculty talks from MENA backgrounds, volunteering with refugees, and attending cultural festivals.
Contact: Hayder Ali, Camron Shirkhodaie, Reem Hamoda, Kevin Ashi, and Manizha Kholmatov
Faculty Advisor: Fuad Baroudy, MD, Department of Surgery
On a Mission for Nutrition is an organization that was formed to address the obesity disparity on the South Side of Chicago. Born out of a project emanating from the Health Care Disparities in America course at Pritzker, On a Mission for Nutrition is an after-school program that educates students on nutrition and empowers them to make healthy choices. The goal is to promote the health of our community but also to learn about the importance of public health.
Contact: Jackson Moran, Karina Grullon Perez, and Jessica Guillaume
Faculty Advisor: Anna Volerman Beaser, MD, Department of Medicine
NLVS aims to serve diverse and underprivileged communities by providing quality basic and preventative medical care. Our 3 main goals include: providing quality health care to uninsured patients, providing basic preventative care/health education to patients and surrounding communities, and to provide learning opportunities for students in clinical settings.
Contact: Shivam Dave
Faculty Advisor: Ram Krishnamoorthi, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine
The mission of the OB/GYN Interest Group is to increase the exposer of Pritzker School of Medicine students to the field and sub-specialties within the field of obstetrics and gynecology. Moreover, the opportunity to gain relevant skills will be afforded to all interested students. Secondarily, the organization will provide the opportunity for Pritzker students to network with faculty and potential mentors in the field.
Contact: Nicholas McKenzie
Faculty Advisor: Julia Simon, MD, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
The Ophthalmology Interest Group intends to do the following at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine:
Contact: Mohansrinivas Chennakesavalu and Jackson Moran
Faculty Advisor: Asim Farooq, MD, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
The Orthopaedic Surgery Interest Group (OSIG) provides Pritzker medical students the opportunity to explore and develop their interest in the field of orthopaedic surgery. Our primary mission is two-fold: to better introduce all students to a career in orthopaedics, and to provide meaningful opportunities/experiences and mentoring for those students interested in pursuing an orthopaedic residency. During quarterly meetings, led by upperclass Pritzker students and guest U of C orthopaedic surgery faculty/residents, we will offer an opportunity for group members to learn about orthopaedics in general, explore the many orthopaedic subspecialties, and hear about the background and experiences of our orthopaedic faculty members. We hope that this will help dispel many misconceptions and provide a true sense of orthopaedics, drawing many different types of students to the field, including women and underrepresented minorities. We also seek to pair interested students with upperclass or resident mentors in order to provide ample advice and guidance regarding the decision to pursue orthopaedics and the best ways to prepare for the competitive residency application process. Student leaders of OSIG will also work to facilitate shadowing and research opportunities for interested students. Ultimately, we aim to help students at all levels develop a better understanding of what a career in orthopaedic surgery entails and help interested students gain longitudinal experiences within the field.
Contact: Vivek Nair, Ellen Goldberg, Henry Seidel, Matt Dulas, and John Sun
Faculty Advisor: Lewis Shi, MD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine
OUTPatient, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in medicine group, offers education to the Pritzker community on LGBTQ related topics. It also provides a supportive, social forum for both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ students.
Contact: Louisa Baidoo and Diana Li
Faculty Advisor: Charles Rhee, MD, Department of Medicine
The Pritzker Pathology Interest Group will provide Pritzker Medical Students with opportunities to explore Pathology and laboratory medicine through meaningful learning experiences and mentor relationships. Interested students will be able to spend time shadowing in various aspects of anatomic and clinical pathology, including surgical pathology, grossing and sign out, intraoperative consultations ("frozen sections"), autopsies, and clinical laboratories.
Contact: Oliver Zhu
Faculty Advisor: Kammi Henriksen, MD, Department of Pathology
The Pediatrics Interest Group shall have a three-fold mission. First, to kindle an interest in the field of pediatric medicine. Second, to serve the children of the South side of Chicago in service projects and education. Third, to aid students interested in pediatrics in the furthering of their ambitions.
Contact: Maya McKee, Devika Jaishankar, and Swetha Tatineni
Faculty Advisor: Maria Alkureishi, MD, Department of Pediatrics
The mission of the Pediatric Surgery Interest Group is to give medical students the opportunity to explore the field of pediatric general surgery, as well as the variety of pediatric surgery subspecialties. Through this group, students will be provided the opportunity to shadow faculty and residents and attend panel discussions. We hope to connect students with mentors in the department that can guide them as they pursue a career in surgery and help them develop a better understanding of what a career in pediatric surgery entails.
Contact: Ngozi Nwabueze
Faculty Advisor: Kathryn Rowland, MD, Department of Surgery
PMAP is a student organization that aims to facilitate interaction between senior students and lowerclassmen with the goal of providing mentorship from students with similar interests and advanced experiences.
Contact: Vince Morgan, Monica Matsumoto, Xanthia Tucker
Faculty Advisor: Jim Woodruff, MD, Department of Medicine
One in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives. Physicians are one of the sources of care for survivors of sexual assault. The Physician Advocates for Survivors of Sexual Assault is dedicated to advocating for survivors of sexual assault and educating Pritzker students about how physicians use trauma-informed care to heal the biological and psychological effects of sexual assault.
Contact: Amrita Mohanty and Michael Sun
Faculty Advisor: Sonia Oyola, MD, Department of Family Medicine
The Plastic Surgery Interest Group provides Pritzker students the opportunity to explore and develop their interest in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. We facilitate interactions between medical students and University of Chicago plastic surgery attendings, residents, and fourth-year students to educate them about various opportunities available for research, service, and mentoring. Ultimately, we aim to help students develop a better understanding of what a career in plastic surgery entails and help interested students gain longitudinal experiences within the field. As plastic surgery interacts with many other surgical and medical specialties (breast oncology, ENT, neurosurgery for example), we also hope to foster a better understanding of the multidisciplinary nature of this field.
Contact: Pranav Haravu
Faculty Advisor: Amanda Silva, MD, Department of Surgery
Pritzker Wine Club seeks to grow the Pritzker community's knowledge and appreciation of wine through educational tastings. Small-scale tastings will allow participants to cultivate a deeper understanding of wine in an intimate setting. We hope to expand our student's understanding of how wine is made, what aspects of flavor to appreciate when tasting, and how to choose a wine you'll enjoy!
Contact: Allison Mobley and Julia Chavez
Faculty Advisor: Nicole Cipriani, MD, Department of Pathology
To provide students with the context for collaborative learning through literature and discussion. We hope to reconnect our peers with the humanities and human experiences that can be attained through appreciation of literature. Our overarching goal is to inspire students to become lifelong readers, even as begin our busy lives in medicine.
Contact: Joseph Krongold
Faculty Advisor: Michael Marcangelo, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
The Pritzker Christian Fellowship (PCF) is a nondenominational Christian fellowship in which medical students, physicians, and faculty can gather together to explore how their faith relates to medicine. We seek to live faith-based lives in the medical profession, doing God’s will and witnessing for Him.
Contacts: Gabriel Kaufmann, Allison Mobley, and Matthew Du
Faculty Advisor: John Yoon, MD, Department of Medicine
The mission of PDG is to teach all styles of dance to the Pritzker community and greater neighborhood. Through this, we aspire to foster and grow relationships, encourage new modes of expression, and promote healthy, active living.
Contact: Mayuri Viswanathan
Advisor: Sonia Oyola, MD, Department of Family Medicine
The Pritzker Health Policy Interest Group provides an agenda-free forum for medical students interested in health policy. By connecting Pritzker students with the expertise, resources, and events related to health policy across the university, we seek to engage the Pritzker community with ongoing policy discussions and inform the next gereration of physicians on how policy will impact their careers and practice. We are open to any and all viewpoints, and seek to engage students in evidence-based, rigorous discussiongs of existing and potential policy initiatives that impact medicine.
Contacts: Nicholas McKenzie and Joseph Krongold
Faculty Advisor: Ram Krishnamoorthi, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine
PH&M seeks to advance humanistic study of medicine and health by facilitating conversation between students, faculty, and residents. We hope to accomplish this by means of lectures, seminars, and workshops all devoted to highlighting the connections between the social sciences, humanities and clinical medicine. Participants should offer their personal thoughts and experiences on their roles either as part of a health care team or as patients themselves.
Contacts: Russell Simons & Steve Server
Faculty Advisor: Mindy Schwartz, MD, Department of Medicine
The Pritzker Music Group is an opportunity for medical students to keep in touch with their creative sides. Musicians of all styles and abilities are welcome. Our primary goals are to connect musicians to form small ensembles, and provide opportunities to share music with each other and the medical community at large. We perform weekly for patients at Comer Children’s Hospital, and hold quarterly Music Salons to which the entire Pritzker community is welcome.
Contacts: Maggie Liu, Alice Li, and Devika Jaishankar
Faculty Advisor: John Alverdy, MD, Department of Surgery
The Pritzker Oncology Group (POG) aims to support student interest in oncology, increase awareness of career options (e.g. medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, hematology oncology, etc.), and expose students to research opportunities, current best practices, and the latest innovations in the field. The group would also serve to connect students with this common interest in oncology – across all class years – and facilitate opportunities for collaboration. Furthermore, the organization, its associated faculty, and students who have begun clinical training would support preclinical students in career advising prior to formalized career advising.
Contacts: Manizha Kholmatov, Ian Waters, and Maya McKee
Faculty Advisor: Russell Szmulewitz, MD, Department of Medicine
Provide social and wellness opportunities for students by connecting them with recreational outdoor opportunities and experiences. Regularly organize hiking, camping, backpacking, climbing, and other outdoor adventure activities for students to participate in as a means to connect with each other and their natural environment. Incorporate opportunities for students to become involved in other aspects of the outdoors, such as wilderness medicine, community service events (e.g. lake front cleanups), and research opportunities (e.g. bringing speakers who are involved in environmental impacts on health).
Contacts: Nathaniel Wright and Meredith Yang
Faculty Advisor: Wei Wei Lee, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine
Pritzker Women in Medicine (WiM) is a group of Pritzker students interested in learning more about leadership opportunities and professional equality for female physicians. WiM leads an annual summer course titled “Women in Medicine” that includes more direct women-to-women mentoring and professional development driven by and designed for female medical students. Additionally, we host an annual conference for Chicago-area medical students and co-host other workshops and speakers on women’s rights and the experiences of women in medical school.
Contact: Allison Mobley, Teresa Xiao, and Dana Anderson
Faculty Advisor: Julie Oyler, MD, Department of Medicine
The mission of the organization is to cultivate student interest in the field of psychiatry, and to raise awareness about mental health issues to the wider Pritzker student body.
Contacts: Louisa Baidoo, Camron Shirkodaie, and Alec Kacew
Faculty Advisor: Mike Marcangelo, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
The Pritzker Radiology Interest Group serves as a forum where students interested in radiological imaging and/or a career in radiology can meet with radiologists from the University of Chicago Medicine to learn more about this dynamic field. Ultimately, we hope to remove, or at least alleviate, the worries that many students have when called upon to examine and understand X-rays, CTs, MRIs, etc., and instead promote further curiosity in these critical areas of physical diagnosis.
Contact: Gabriel Casella
Faculty Advisor: Christopher Straus, MD, Department of Radiology
Nationally, Reach Out and Read prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. The University of Chicago chapter carries out this mission in the local South Side community at the federally-qualified Friend Family Health Center. Pritzker students find funds to provide a developmentally appropriate, new book to each pediatric patient between the ages of 0 and 5 years at every well-child visit. Members of the organization also maintain a waiting room book corner with donated gently used books and facilitate visits from local librarians.
Contact: Zi-Yi Choo, Camron Shirkhodaie, Alice Li
Faculty Advisor: Anne Gearhart, Department of Pediatrics
We are a medical student organization at the Pritzker School of Medicine dedicated to relieving the health disparities of developing countries. We annually plan a service trip to an international and underserved location to provide needed medical services. We also raise money throughout the year to make a generous donation to the non-profit organization with whom we partner. In doing so we experience and witness the health disparities in these countries, understand these issues in order to ultimately become health advocates by educating our community.
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Website: remedyuchicago.org
Contact: Christian Gonzalez and Briyana Chisholm
Faculty Advisor: Brian Callender, MD, and James Woodruff, MD, Department of Medicine
To bring all four years of students (and PhD candidates) together for an extracurricular opportunity to share the art of singing. Simultaneously, we hope to foster mentoring relationships and friendships from within the group.
Contact: Kyle Lin, Maggie Liu, Joseph Riehm
Faculty Advisor: Jeanne Farnan, MD, MHPE Department of Medicine
The mission of SHARE is to provide adolescents in our community accurate and unbiased information about sexual and reproductive health in order to empower them to make healthy and responsible choices for themselves. Sexual education in the public schools around the University of Chicago currently receives limited attention because of budget and time constraints. Alumna Sarah Kennedy (MD ’18) identified this need as part of her Healthcare Disparities project and in the 2017-2018 school year, she piloted SHARE as a 4-session teaching program at Carter G. Woodson Middle School. She received a lot of positive feedback from the students, the school administrators, and Pritzker volunteers. In light of this success, and in the potential that this program has for fostering relationships between Pritzker and our South Side community, we are seeking to register SHARE as an official Pritzker organization with the hope of creating a sustainable health outreach and service program.
Contact: Amrita Mohanty, Mayuri Viswanathan
Faculty Advisor: Anna Volerman Beaser, MD, Department of Medicine & Pediatrics
The National AAPI Medical Student and Resident Section represents over 10,000 students across the country. AAPI is a national organization that focuses on promoting the professional, political, and social goals of American medical and dental students, residents, and fellows of Indian heritage. The association is recognized nationally and internationally as leaders in health care striving to provide a diverse forum for scientific, educational, cultural, charitable, and political interaction among its members. Our chapter provides a channel of networking, support, and open communication among our members nationally and between local chapters. Most importantly, our group is focused on charity care and volunteering in India.
Contacts: Tatineni Swetha and Dave Shivam
Faculty Advisor: Aliya N. Husain, MD, Department of Pathology
The South Side Science Scholars group is committed to creating and delivering a sustainable weekly afterschool science program to under-served Chicago grade schools, particularly those of the South Side. We aspire to positively impact children's scientific thinking, elements of health education, communication skills, and enthusiasm for science.
Contact: Maya McKee and Hagerah Malik
Faculty Sponsor: Monica Vela, MD, Department of Medicine
Provide Pritzker Medicine students opportunities to learn and experience the field of Sports Medicine. This will include interacting with sports medicine faculty in varying fields such as Pediatrics, Family Medicine, PM&R, Emergency Medicine, and/or Orthopedic Surgery through conducting events to increase exposure to the overall field of Sports Medicine
Contact: Quinn Stillson and Jin Choi
Faculty Advisor: Holly Benjamin, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine & Pediatrics
Contact: Ian Waters and Je Yeong Sone
Faculty Advisor: Veronica Cipriani, MD, Department of Neurology
The mission of our organization is to advocate for a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program with fewer administrative costs and affordable health insurance for all. Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) is an established non-profit research and education organization of 18,000 physicians, medical students, and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance. Currently, there is a bill in Congress, H.R. 676, which would expand and improve Medicare for all.
Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations, the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and immunization. Moreover, the U.S. leaves 51 million people completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered. Single-payer financing would save, on paper, more than $400 billion per year – enough to provide comprehensive coverage to everyone without paying any more than we already do.
While the Affordable Care Act will expand Medicaid and mandate the purchase of private insurance, it will still leave nearly 25 million people uninsured. It also has no concrete way to curb skyrocketing health care and administrative costs associated with a for-profit private health insurance industry. We believe that a comprehensive national health insurance program is the only way to provide equitable, affordable care to all Americans.
Our PNHP group also aims to get involved with other single payer and medical activism efforts in the city of Chicago. There are PNHP student chapters at Rush and University of Illinois at Chicago medical schools and an active network of engaged physicians and other health professionals in the city.
Contact: Camron Shirkhodaie, Hayder Ali
Faculty Advisor: Valerie Press, MD, Ph.D, Department of Medicine
The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine Chapter of the Student National Medical Association (Pritzker-SNMA) is committed to academic excellence, student recruitment and mentoring of underrepresented minorities, and community service.
Contact: Hannah Priddy, Devon Lewis, and Ngozi Nwabueze
Faculty Advisor: Milda Saunders, MD, Department of Medicine
To reduce language barriers in the health care system by helping future physicians develop a working understanding of medical Spanish and its application in the clinical setting.
Contact: Emily Papazian and Octavio Herrera
Faculty Advisor: Monica Vela, MD, Department of Medicine
The surgery interest group seeks to expose medical students to aspects of surgery in a variety of subspecialties. Doing this, we hope to provide students with a better understanding of what a career in surgery entails as well as to instruct students with basic skills such as suturing.
Contact: Julia Chavez, John Sun, and Matt Dulas
Faculty Advisor: Oliver Eng, MD, Department of Surgery
STAT will coordinate, organize, and support an ongoing transplant pager program to allow Pritzker students the opportunity to shadow transplantations at UCM and procurements at both UCM and outside medical institutions. Pritzker STAT will strive to have each student in the program attend at least 3 procurements/transplants over a 12-month period. Ultimately, Pritzker STAT aims to enhance the medical education of and better prepare its participants for futures in surgical fields.
Contact: Reem Hamoda, Dana Anderson, and Pranav Haravu
Faculty Advisor: Piotr Witkowski, MD, Department of Surgery
The mission of Sustainable Pritzker is to promote awareness among medical students of environmental issues and their relevance to human health and medicine. The group will seek to hold educational sessions, promote sustainable practices at Pritzker, and support environmental health in the communities surround the University of Chicago.
Contact: Allison Mobley, Mayuri Viswanathan, and Gabriel Casella
Faculty Advisor: Sarah Lovinger, MD, Department of Medicine
To provide mentorship, training, and education to adolescent (late middle school/high school aged) students in our area on topics of mental illness. We aim to present information in such a way as to reduce stigma and dispel myths while providing factual information and resources for getting help or more information. Our major activities will involve sharing a 1 to 1.5 hour long curriculum with partnered schools. The curriculum will be split into different topics and delivered to students at different “stations” to allow for more intimate setting with a lower student: volunteer ratio.
Contact: Patricia Simmer , Aaditya Manirajan, Shivam Dave, Cierra Howard
Faculty Advisor: Michael Marcangelo, MD, Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience
The mission of the Trauma Surgery Interest Group is to expose Pritzker students to the field of Trauma Surgery. In addition, one of the aims of the interest group would be to provide students with the opportunity to engage with and learn more about trauma center’s mission of partnering with the community to address the root causes of violence and trauma. This goal could be accomplished through shadowing, research opportunities, and volunteering.
Contact: Je Yeong Sone, Max Ackerman
Faculty Advisor: Kenneth Wilson, MD, Department of Surgery
UChicago ROCK is an organization dedicated to educating community members on the South Side of Chicago about health related topics, such as diabetes, hypertension, mental health, nutrition, women's health, etc. The program seeks to pair Pritzker groups and UChicago hospital experts with community members to give informational talks with the goal of equipping community members with information they would not seek out or have trouble accessing elsewhere.
Contact: Amrita Mohanty, Yujin Shin, Alexa Uribe
Faculty Advisor: Abdullah Pratt, MD, Department of Medicine
The Vascular Surgery Interest Group aims to give medical students early exposure to Vascular Surgery as a profession. Students will have opportunities to learn about the present and future opportunities in vascular surgery by interacting and shadowing faculty, participating in workshops and panel discussions, and attending meetings and conferences.
Contact: Alexa Uribe
Faculty Advisor: Chelsea Dorsey, MD, Department of Surgery
Washington Park is a free pediatric health clinic run by a 12 member student board and advised by a steering committee comprised of attending physicians, past board members, and community leaders. We seek to improve the Washington Park community’s access to medical and health-related care by providing acute medical care, social services, and referrals to longitudinal care providers. We seek to broaden opportunities for medical and social service students to learn about health care in a medically underserved community.
To learn more, please visit the Washington Park Free Clinic website.
Contact: Henry Seidel and Ngozi Nwabueze
Faculty Advisor: Julia Rosebush, DO, Department of Pediatrics