Black Bag Ball (BBB) – Erica John (john.erica@medstudent.pitt.edu), Gillian Harrison
(harrison.gillian@medstudent.pitt.edu), Jessica Lee (lee.jessica1@medstudent.pitt.edu)
 Planning committee entrusted with the annual realization of PittMed's only school wide
formal. Specific responsibilities include:
o date and venue selection – Date is typically February before board studying starts (Date
is set by the SEC, though changes can be made). Venue selection occurs during the
previous summer or fall. Previous Locations include: Pittsburgh Athletic Association
(2002), Fox Chapel yacht club (2003), Marriot City Centre (2004), Omni William Penn
(2005) LeMont - Mt.Washington (2006)
o fundraising efforts - e.g. soliciting faculty/department donations, sponsorships; selling
advertisements, anatomy survival packs; managing raffles, working with the Alumni
Assoc.
o logistics - e.g. dinner and hors d'oeuvres menu, DJ and music, theme and decoration
selections; transportation where appropriate; open/cash bar decisions
o coordination - with alumni association for invitations, Suzann Beardsley for FAST, and
Amy Fetters in planning and management for account balances
o advertising - postering, emailing, and promoting the event.
o ticket pricing, sales, collection - the usual scaife lobby affair plus door enforcement at the
event
 Planning committees often receive unofficial subcommittee throughout the planning
process. Expect planning efforts to begin as early as summer. Good luck!
 Questions? Contact current co-chairs!
FAST coordinators – Jessica Lee (lee.jessica1@medstudent.pitt.edu), Niketa Williams
(williams.niketa@medstudent.pitt.edu), Yin Chen (chen.yin@medstudent.pitt.edu)
 Work with the two other FAST coordinators
 Occasionally meet with Dr. Harvey to set time-lines, develop the program budget, discuss
new ideas, and evaluate the program
 Selection of 2nd year FAST Advisors (biggest aspect of the position)
o Design application
o Advertise
o Reminders
o Evaluate applications
o Deal with the sticky situations that may result from having many more applications
than spots
o Conversely, figure out a way to include everyone who is interested!
 Organize orientation meeting for the 2nd year FAST advisors
 Speak at and assist with the FAST kick-off dinner (e.g. create ice-breaker trivia
questions, activities)
 Organize FAST scavenger hunt and any other inter-group activities
 Occasionally check-in with 2nd year FAST advisors to see how things are going and serve
as a resource for both Dr. Harvey and the faculty/MS-II FAST advisors.
 Send email reminders regarding test dates to advisors
 Collect information about on-going school events that might serve as appropriate FAST
events and pass on info to MS-II FAST advisors
 Conduct mid-year evaluation survey of 1st years
Community Service – Peter Kang (kang.peter@medstudent.pitt.edu), Laura Taylor
(taylor.laura@medstudent.pitt.edu)
 The community service committee is responsible for suggesting and implementing
projects for the medical school to undertake that are worthwhile to the surrounding
community.
 Last Spring, we ran a clothing drive during the spring where they collected more than ten
large bins of student- and community-donated clothes and delivered them to the
Salvation Army and Goodwill.
 We received funding approval from UPSOM and are working with IT to put a plasma
screen and kiosk in the main entrance to help communicate events taking place and
increase involvement in school related events.
 Another big project was to put together a pamphlet of community service activities at Pitt
Med that highlights some of our projects for incoming students as well as the community
at large.
 Last year the community service representatives for SEC set up two blood drives with the
Central Blood Bank, one in the fall and one in the spring.
 The main role of the SEC Community Service chairs, as we see it, is to try to centralize
the many projects that Pitt Med students are coordinating. There are so many good
things that med students are doing for the community, and often other students and the
community at large is unaware of them. The role of the SEC CS committee would be to
raise awareness about these projects and possibly consolidate the various projects that
are going on at Pitt Med (since some of them overlap). Neilly has been in touch with
Dean Levine and Dean Harvey about centralizing the community service projects and
doing a better job of advertising the events, and she has made much progress during the
past year.
 In the past, SEC CS committee has collected and delivered hundreds of pounds of
student donated magazines and delivered them to the volunteer office at Montefiore
Hospital. The volunteer office at Montefiore passed the magazines out to all the various
waitings rooms throughout that hospital and Presby throughout the academic year.
SARC – Jimmy England (england.james@medstudent.pitt.edu), Allyson Pishko
(pishko.allyson@medstudent.pitt.edu), Kory Gebhardt (gebhardt.kory@medstudent.pitt.edu)
 SARC is a 2-3 person job. This year both SARC reps worked together on the
responsibilities, but if you wanted to divide them up you could. For all your SARC duties
you will have guidance by Rich Levitt. Details about what the SARC reps do include:
 SARC Manual Coordinator
o Responsible for maintaining the SARC Website on the Zone or Navigator and
making the SARC manual available online– a resource for incoming medical
students to the first and second year classes regarding helpful hints and tips for
succeeding in each class.
o In the spring of first year, will solicit writers for each of the courses in the
curriculum for a given year. May coordinate this process with the curriculum
committee.
o Creates an academic survey for the class and distributes it or makes it available
online. This survey details books and study methods used, as well as opinions on
the various segments of each course (lectures, labs, small groups, projects,
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exams, etc.). Survey results are compiled and given to each segment writer
before they begin.
o Maintains a deadline for completion of working drafts, edits, and final drafts for
each writer. Writers are charged with following a set format that the coordinator
designs, as well as following up with students and faculty, if needed, to fill the gaps
in any course segment.
o This year’s coordinator may have some new insight to include in the manual as
Class of 2010 is the first to not have summatives
SARC USMLE Step 1 Coordinator
o Responsible for coordinating the school’s efforts to prepare the MS-2 class in the
spring of the second year for the USMLE Step 1 board exam.
o Meets with Rich Levitt in the fall of academic year 2 to decide on a date to hold the
Step 1 board meeting for the class. Usually this is held after mid January, so that
we don’t freak out too many people.
o Coordinates the Kaplan meeting with the class president and Kaplan reps and
ensures that information is presented accurately regarding Kaplan’s packages for
Step 1 prep.
o Sets an agenda for the meeting from students who have done particularly well on
their boards (Rich will help you with this), information from Rich regarding
registering exams, as well as any information that might be useful for students.
o Coordinates a survey among MS-2 students regarding which topics they feel need
addressed by faculty in 2 hour review sessions, held during Integrated Case
Studies.
o Compiles survey results and asks students to solicit certain professors to hold the
review sessions. (note – administration can’t ask faculty to teach – that would be a
contractual obligation)
o Reserves rooms for the various review sessions.
SARC Bookroom Project Coordinator
o Coordinates surveys among the MS-1, MS-2, and MS-3 students regarding the
academic resources used from the bookroom in coursework, board prep, and
rotations
o Works with SEC officers to determine the resources needed in the bookroom, and
those that might be outdated.
o Works with PittMed administration (OMED, in particular) to help solicit additional
resources for the bookroom.
o Coordinates donation efforts for unused bookroom resources to medical
communities in need or other efforts as determined by the SEC.
o This duty tends to be put on the backburner, but if there is a 3 rd SARC rep it may
be easier to accomplish
Helping medical students cash in on the GPSA’s $200 travel grants.
Endurance and patience. The meetings often feel unnecessarily long.
OSR Representative – Michael Fox (fox.michael@medstudent.pitt.edu), Sarah Ramer
(ramer.sarah@medstudent.pitt.edu)
 The OSR (Organization of Student Representatives) is the student branch of the
Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The OSR is charged with the
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representation of the undergraduate medical student body of the U.S. to the academic
medicine community. Unlike other student organizations (e.g., AMA-MSS, SNMA, or
AMSA), who represent their membership, the OSR's constituency comprises all medical
students. The concerns of the OSR lie exclusively within academic medicine and medical
education.The OSR is comprised of representatives from each of the 125 allopathic
medical schools in the United States. The sixteen medical schools from Canada are also
invited to participate in OSR activities, though they do not have voting privileges. OSR's
Administrative Board is comprised of the Chair, Chair-Elect, Past-Chair, five National
Delegates and four Regional Chairs. In addition, the OSR appoints students to serve as
liaisons to various national committees of import to the AAMC.
As an OSR representative, your role is two-fold. First, you must communicate the
opinions of your student body to the national officers so that the OSR can effectively
represent medical students on a national level.
Secondly, you can take priorities and objectives from your colleagues and the national
level and implement them at your own school. National issues include minority and
majority student relations; Promotion of Project 3000x2000 (to increase minority
representation within the medical student body); curriculum reform; community service;
the new Web page; NBME updates; the NRMP algorithm; Draw the Line and the
Humanism Award. Individual projects, which run the gamut from student-run homeless
health clinics to cross-cultural education, can be found in the OSR Resource Manual,
AAMC's and OSR's web pages, and within numerous publications of the AAMC.
OSR representatives participate in coordinating various projects, including legislative
petitions concerning medical students (e.g., federal loans and grant programs) and visits
to Capitol Hill.
Here at PittMed, we have two OSR representatives, each serving a two year term that is
staggered from each other (so one representative is elected every year). One
representative is considered the "primary representative", and the other is considered the
"alternate representative. This is for voting purposes at the regional/nation OSR
meetings. However, the two representatives work together on almost all initiatives.
Currently Michael Fox is the primary representative and Sarah Ramer is the alternate.
As the tenured representative, Sarah will assume the position of primary representative
for the remainder of her term (one year).
One of the most demanding tasks of the OSR representatives is to nominate a faculty
member for the Humanism in Medicine award. Additionally, the Dean of Students' office
has set aside a budget for the representatives to travel to the regional/national meetings,
and Dean Harvey would very much like for the OSR to assume a more important role in
the Pitt Med community. Therefore, it is a position that has ample room for expansion of
duties and responsibilities.
More information can be obtained from the AAMC OSR website: www.aamc.org/osr
Scaife Hall Improvements Coordinator – Aaron Wynkoop
(wynkoop.aaron@medstudent.pitt.edu), Michael Liggon (liggon.michael@medstudent.pitt.edu)
 The Scaife improvements representative will serve as a liaison between the student
body, the Office of the Vice Dean, and the Medical Alumni Association (MAA) by
communicating ways in which Scaife Hall can be improved to meet students’ needs.
 The representative will also think of innovative ways in which UPSOM can be more
appealing to prospective students.
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The representative will not serve as a liaison between the student body and Maintenance
for Scaife repairs.
Survival Guide 2009 – Kory Gebhardt (gebhardt.kory@medstudent.pitt.edu), Tara Otiz
(otiz.tara@medstudent.pitt.edu)
***THIS JOB WOULD BE BEST DONE BY SOMEONE WHO IS PAGEMAKER SAAVY***
 The Pitt Med Survival Guide, funded by the Medical Alumni Association, has hopefully
helped you in planning your time here at Pitt and in getting to know the city. This book is
received by each student matriculating at the Pitt Med as well as all applicants.
 The editor(s) of the survival guide is/are responsible for the first-printing for incoming
students and contributors to the guide (approximately 200-225 copies). If you’re applying
to make next year’s guide, think about what was helpful and what you’d like improved
about last year’s guide, and take it from there.
 Traditionally, the guide has two editors, though last year we had three editors who each
did a section. If you have questions, feel free to email us or flag us down and we can chat
about the guide.
 Timeline of jobs:
o Early Spring: Assemble a team of writers, editors, and designers to put together
the survival guide. Enlist as many people as possible – there is a TON of work to
be done! Particularly you need a lot of people to call and verify information for all
the restaurants listed at the end of the guide
o Late Spring: Edit and update listings and reviews for restaurants and businesses.
Write/edit sections on Pitt’s curriculum for coming year. The “new curriculum”
always receives an updated description in by the curriculum committee, since it
can always be improved/expanded, particularly about the scholarly project.
o Early Summer: Design the publication using Adobe Pagemaker 7.0 (available in
most Pitt computer labs, though not in Falk Library. We did most of the work in the
Benedum Engineering Hall computer lab). None of us current editors knew how to
use Pagemaker when we started…..and lets just say it isn’t the most “user
friendly” program in the world. I would STRONGLY recommend that whoever
signs up for Survival Guide has some Pagemaker experience!!!
o Contact a suitable printer (we traditionally use Kinkos) and organize for the printing
of approximately 200 copies of the guide (maybe 250) within a budget of
approximately $1000. Kinko’s is extremely helpful. We were able to have
“practice” versions of the guides printed to see what they actually looked like
before placing the full order.
 Keep constant communication with the Medical Alumni office to let them know about
questions or problems. Crystal Kubik is your liaison to the Medical Alumni Association,
and she is amazing and incredibly helpful.
 Provide a copy of the guide to the Admissions office. This copy needs to be in a format
suitable for Xeroxing by the office. (Kinko’s can do this for you as well)
 Some tips: Contact one of us to get a copy of last year’s guide (it’s on a zip disk). Set up
deadlines – this will help you a lot. The timeline you choose is up to you. People in the
past have completed the SG by the end of the school year or during the first weeks of
summer. We started working on the SG in March, when I assembled a team of people to
work with. We brainstormed ideas and divided up responsibilities at that time. Writers
were responsible for turning in their pieces by the end of April. We did most of the grunt
work and final touches during the first few weeks of the summer and had the guide
printed by the end of June. If you want to see prior survival guides, contact Mrs. Harlow,
who has them. Delegate responsibilities as much as you can. It will save you a lot of
time. Also, hold people accountable for their commitments – send out reminders early
and often.
Murmurs editors – Mike Huijon (huijon.roger@medstudent.pitt.edu), Adam Olson
(olson.adam@medstudent.pitt.edu), Meme Wu (wu.you@medstudent.pitt.edu)
Responsibilities include
 secure funding for publication
 solicit submissions from students
 select writing and art for publication
 revise pieces with writers
 arrange for printing
 design and assemble the magazine digitally
 deliver the magazine to the printer
 review the proofs before printing
 distribute the magazine
 host events to raise interest in the magazine and build community around the arts
 assist the Office of Admissions in using the magazine as a recruiting tool
Scholarships and Loans chair – Shaun Darragh (darragh.shaun@medstudent.pitt.edu)
 This chair is directly responsible for the PittMed Golf Outing, which raises a substantial
amount of money for the Edward Curtiss Leadership in Service Awards that go to
graduating fourth year medical students. Most of the coordination of the golf outing is
similar to years past, but new ideas are always needed to improve the event and keep it
fresh.
 Selection of recipients for the scholarships is the second responsibility of this chair.
Applications are solicited near the end of the academic year and the chair and the
committee must choose the recipients. The chair will present the scholarships at the
awards ceremony in the spring.
 The golf outing takes a significant amount of time, and the chair should recruit a
committee to assist them in its planning.
SEC Vice President of Academics
Duties of the Vice-President of Academics (VPA)
 The VPA shall be responsible for the oversight of the student curriculum committee
representatives as well as the Student Admission Team and SARC Manual Team.
 The VPA shall represent the student body and the SEC in all dealings with the Office of
Medical Education.
 The VPA shall present updates at SEC Meetings on changes to the curriculum or
educational agenda of the School of Medicine.
 The VPA shall facilitate on a semi-annual basis, with the help of the current Curriculum
Committee Representatives, open forums on curricular issues for students to present
concerned about their academic experience at the School of Medicine.
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The VPA shall be the SEC liaison to both the Curriculum Committee and the Admissions
Committee.
NOMINATIONS: (Number refers to the number of positions available)
Nominations can also be brought to the SEC meeting on January 14 or emailed to
SECofficers@medstudent.pitt.edu
AAMC Organization of Student Representatives (Majority and Minority Issues positions)
Black Bag Ball Organizer (3)
Community Service (3)
FAST Coordinators (3)
Murmurs Editors (3)
SARC (3)
Scaife Hall Improvements (1)
Scholarship and Loans (1)
Survival Guide (2)
Vice President of Academics (1)