JCUMSA 2nd Quarterly Update (April-June)
By Mali Edirisinghe
Hey everyone, first of all congratulations to Years 1-3 on finishing your Semester 1 exams! We hope everyone in years 1-4 are enjoying a well deserved break!
We are pleased to release the latest edition of our JCUMSA Quarterly updates. This Report comprises months April, May and June and hope it provides you all an update of what we’ve been up to behind the scenes! As always if you have any questions or feedback please do not hesitate to contact us via our website or social media.
President
Bianca Johnson – [email protected]jcumsa.org.au
We have been informed that the Medlabs renovation should be going ahead at the end of this year. There has not been any further mention of it becoming a General Access space for all JCU students, but we will keep you updated if that changes.
Ongoing review of Student Support services with the CMD.
Hand-n-Hand peer support groups will be released shortly, it’s not too late to sign up! See Cathy’s update below for more information on how to sign up!
Academic VP
Abi Balaji – [email protected]
Halfway through the year and the academic team has been working hard to collect feedback to improve teaching and learning for all. Please remember to keep speaking to your year academic reps with feedback and academic issues.
Mock OSCE and MSAT sessions to be run next semester.
Maggie Grant speaker night will be back next semester so keep an eye out for more info and to find out who our amazing speakers are.
Events VP
Lara Humadi – [email protected]
Things have settled down since having 10 events in the space of 2 months at the start of the year. However, this means I’ve had more time to make next semester a memorable one!
Pre-Clinical Mixer:
JCUMSA’s first Pre-Clinical Mixer cocktail party which happened in Week 8 last semester was a success with 114 tickets sold
It was held at the beautiful Maritime Museum Lawns and gave the Pre-Clinical students a chance to mingle
Med Ball:
The most glamorous night of the year will be happening on Saturday the 20th of August (Week 4, Semester 2) at the gorgeous Prestige Estate
Tickets are on sale now and close on Friday the 29th of July (Week 1, Semester 2) at 5pm
Med Revue:
The Med Revue Convenors Bea, Erin, Novoneela, Dennis, Dylan and Eric are working hard to produce an entertaining show for us
Save the date for Friday the 9th of September (Week 7, Semester 2) for one of the best nights of the year!
Other Events:
I’d really like to see some non-drinking events on JCUMSA’s calendar so I’m currently in the process of trying to organise a Med vs. Law Debate and a Med Talent Night. Let me know if you have any other event ideas you’d like to see happen!
Also, end of year parties for Years 4 and 5 will be organised by JCUMSA for all clinical sites so people in those years are more than welcome to contact me with ideas of where they should be held!
I’m super excited for the next half of the year and will continue working towards my goal of making 2022 a year to remember!
Secretary
Anson Yang – [email protected]
Semester 1 has been extremely busy! Here are some things I’ve been up to:
Secretarial duties! Continually liaising with student body, JCUMSA committee and CMD Staff on how JCUMSA and CMD can be better supporting medical students at JCU
The JCUMSA Annual General Meeting this year will be held on the 15th of September
Treasurer
Eric Smith – [email protected]
After almost 2 years of work and too much paperwork to name, I am proud to announce that the “James Cook University Medical Students’ Association Incorporated” is now an official charity, registered with the Australian Charities and Nonprofits Commission (woo!). This entitles us to a number of perks, including GST concessions and donation incentives for sponsors, which ultimately benefits all of us as students as it means we can invest more money directly into the events and activities of our organisation. This is a big win for JCUMSA, and an even greater win for JCU med students.
AMSA Liaison
Steph Sullivan – [email protected]
VAMPIRE CUP
We know how this went, congratulations to JCU for taking out 3/3 of the top comps! This is the first time in VC history that this has happened – massive congratulations to the VC Convenors, Adi Enjeti and Morgan Apel for their amazing efforts putting our most successful blood drive together this year, and thankyou to every single donator. Make sure you continue to donate post-VC, the easiest way to save lives as a medical student 🙂
COUNCIL 2
I attended AMSA National Council 2 from the 1-3 of July (despite a few flight delays). Six new or reviewed policies were passed successfully, in line with the general JCU student standpoint. Make sure you keep an eye out for policy author and reviewer callouts for council 3 period later in the year! All AMSA policies can be found on our website, amsa.org.au
RURAL HEALTH SUMMIT
Held in Mackay, RHS ran over 6-8 May and was an incredible success! Myself and ~100 other medical students across the country came together to build our skills, hear from a number of incredible speakers, and make new friends. Congratulations to JCU students Brooke Mackie and Katelyn McCahon for successfully co-convening an event that we will never forget!
LOCAL ADVOCACY
I have been in meetings with staff to advocate for student mental health, clearer leave guidelines, and improved LGBTQIA+ inclusion in simulated clinical scenarios
Lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to give a MASSIVE congratulations to Tish Sivagnanan and her team for successfully winning their core four bid at Council. We will have our first ever AMSA president from JCU! If you see Tish around, please make sure you congratulate her – I (and many others) are incredibly excited to see what she brings to AMSA next year.
Sponsorships
Alena Adams – [email protected]
Whilst the majority of the sponsorship excitement is at the beginning of the year, I thought I’d add a few discount codes below if anyone is interested!! :))
(check your student emails!)
Community & Wellbeing
Cathy Choong – [email protected]
Hand n Hand, our peer support initiative, was launched in SP1 with the help of Paula Matich (TUH psychiatry registrar) and is soon to start very soon! If you would like to still get involved as a facilitator or participant head over to our form (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=CLBlC9eVvEq6_D_8IMA5wBdzN3AMuxdAnO27jZ2-edJUMVQ1TElVVlJQUVlKN1QzN0pCVVdRTFdZMS4u)
Launched our first Wellbeing Thursday with the help of Red Frogs and looking forward to having more in the next semester!
Huge congratulations to our Women’s and Men’s Medicine/Pharmacy faculty team for both winning in their Soccer Competition!
Publications & Promotions
Mali Edirisinghe – [email protected]
Our website has been given some extra love over the break and is no longer under construction! We hope it’s now a more seamless and useful resource for visitors, especially regarding events information and ticketing.
There’s a few sections on the site open for your input and experiences too- sharing is caring 😉
Placement Database – submit before 29/07 for a draw of 2x 50% Medball tickets
Clinical Year Handbook – submit before 29/07 for a draw in 1x 50% Medball ticket.
…And a few links forwarded to me to pass on:
FNQ Public Health Network, an initiative to unite public health advocates in our region.
The Canadian American Australian Medical Association (CAAMSA) hosts a bunch of events monthly including interviews of Doctors/Residents about different medical specialties and the Residency matching process across North America and within Australia. Learn more on their website/ Facebook or get in touch with our International Students’ Rep Nithya Logan.
CPD Workshops from JCU’s DTHM available for registration
The University of Sydney’s Paediatric Society is looking for paeds researchers to present their work briefly at an online/in person Symposium. Speaker EOIs due July 10, more info.
JCUMSA xx
