Back row: Alex Eshaghian (Vanderbilt), Mark Suchter (Drexel), Matthew Molenda (NEOUCOM), Adriana Schmidt (Vanderbilt), Tasneem Poonawalla (UTMB); Front row: Ann Marqueling (UCSF), Priya Pajendran (UCSF), Jeanette Waller (UC Irvine), Kelly Werlinger (UTSW), Jessica Zmolik (UTSW)
Students from seven schools attended the first annual DIGA meeting on February 19, 2005 in New Orleans, LA. Representatives were present from Drexel University, Northeastern Ohio Universities College Of Medicine, University of California Irvine, University of California San Francisco, University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and Vanderbilt University.
After the members introduced themselves, a general brainstorming session was held to map out the goals of this new organization. Some ideas included increasing medical student participation at national meetings, creating funding sources for research and travel for medical students, improving information dissemination regarding matching into a dermatology residency, and creating a forum for national networking.
All members agreed that one of DIGA’s core missions should be to promote community service. Several potential projects were discussed, but a consensus was reached that DIGA should coordinate a national Miles for Melanoma fundraising effort, in which students run marathons to raise money for the Melanoma Research Foundation. Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) initiated this program, and it has been very successful.
The Leadership Award was given to Jeanette Waller of UC Irvine for promoting the “Ask a Program Director” feature on the DIGA website.
A faculty member from NEOUCOM was present briefly to give advice on the challenges of matching into a dermatology program. Members were encouraged to recruit their Program Directors to join the Faculty Advisory Panel.