AMSA General Meeting 2: Q&A with Dr. Dubina

Last Wednesday, AMSA held its second general meeting of the quarter, featuring a Q&A session with special guest speaker Dr. Emily Dubina, an Acute Care Surgeon.

The turnout was amazing, and we were so glad so many of you were able to make it to this important opportunity to get to know more about the college-to-med school pipeline and to get a personal perspective from a trained professional about the reality of the medical field.

The meeting started with a few reminders for Committee Applications (which are now closed at the time of this post), information about our first social this coming Wednesday, our next fundraiser, which is also this coming Wednesday, and a fun Rock-Paper-Scissors Icebreaker put together by our lovely Social Co-Chairs.

During the Q&A session, Dr. Dubina shared a lot of insightful information, such as how she first got interested in the medicine pathway, her journey to getting into medical school, from her undergrad, to the gap year she took after taking the MCAT. She spoke about how she kept an Open Mind when going into medical School, as there were a few things she was interested in, but really fell in love with Trauma Surgery in her third and fourth years.

Dr. Dubina also shared some aspects about her obligations as a Trauma and Acute Care Surgeon, focusing on the sporadic nature of the job and how she's never really been able to predict who is brought into her care and what afflictions they may have, but how that's the exact reason why she's always prepared to carry out her duty to the best of her abilities.

Attendees had the chance to ask questions about:

• How to keep a healthy work-life balance

• How to tell what path/career is right for you

• Ways to get more acclimated to the field before medical school

Dr. Dubina also gave some tips on how to get involved in the pre-medical field through methods like shadowing, joining health clubs/organizations like AMSA, volunteering, and acquiring key skills that make a successful surgeon, like leadership, decision-making, and empathy.

We're so grateful to Dr. Dubina for taking the time out of her very busy schedule to work with AMSA and share some very useful information for all those on their Pre-health journeys.