Friend of The Lancet Student, Stephanie Devita (but now also known as Stephanie Gutendorf since she recently got married!), from the University Coalitions for Global Health tells us what students have been doing to demand that universities do more in the fight for access to essential medicines. Make sure to check out their very useful toolkit and why not get involved? The Universities Allied for Essential Medicines also has some useful information-Rhona

Stephanie
University scientists are major contributors in the drug development pipeline.  In 2000, a United States Senate report noted that 15 of the 21 drugs considered by experts to have the greatest therapeutic impact on society were developed using research funded by the United States government. Approximately 25% of all drugs classified as “[d]rugs used in the treatment of HIV infections” by the United States FDA include a university or hospital-held patent (35.7% for 2001-2006). (1) In the United States, most government-funded research occurs at universities and is paid for with tax payer’s dollars. Universities, as nonprofit institutions, have committed to engaging in research that benefits the public interest. (more…)

So many of you seem to be studying for exams just now so I thought you would be interested in the following good news. We’ve just added 7 new book chapters to the Reading Room so there are now almsot 40 chapters of different clinical text books available for you to use. The new chapters are from Holmboe & Hawkins’ Practical Guide to the Evaluation of Clinical Competence, Hughes & Jefferson’s Clinical Chemistry Made Easy, Koeppen & Stanton’s Berne and Levy Physiology 6, Kumar & Clark’s 1000 Questions and Answers from Clinical Medicine, McArdle’s Oncology An Illustrated Colour Text, Polmear’s Evidence-Based Diagnosis in Primary Care, and finally Witham’s Crash Course: Foundation Doctor’s Guide to Medicine and Surgery. We hope there’s something useful there for you. The pdfs are free for you to download and please feel free pass the link to our reading room on to your friends and colleagues. Happy studying! Rhona

Photo from Channel 4’s Dispatches
It is five years on from the invasion of Iraq. Last Saturday (15th March) there was a large march in London organised by the Stop the War Coalition to demand the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Similar demonstrations were organised in many cities around the world. Whatever you think about the Iraq war, there is no doubt that the health care situation in Iraq is dire as we discussed in a previous blog entry.

To mark the five year aniversary of the invasion, we have an interview with Dr Salam Ismael, the founder of the non-governmental organisation, Doctors for Iraq. He was a trainee orthopaedic surgeon in 2003 when the war started but quickly had to change to relief work. He established Doctors for Iraq in response to the chaos of the invasion and started off with 12 doctors. There are now over 250. Since coming to the UK, Salam has toured many cities and given talks in numerous universities. Students got involved in a campaign to collect old medical books that would be sent to medical students in Iraq. So far they have collected 8000 books and 100 CDs. If you would like to get involved in this campaign or want to find out more about the work of Doctors for Iraq, please email me at student@lancet.com
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Sarah Walpole, a medical student from Leeds, UK, updates us on some of the weekend’s student events on climate change which took place on both sides of the Atlantic -Rhona

Photo courtesy of Oxfam
On Saturday, America and the UK were both host to conferences discussing students’ role in tackling global health challenges. The inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) took place over three days at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana where rebuilding work following hurricane Katrina is still going on. The conference sessions have also been available to access online since the start of the conference on Saturday, including the plenary session with Bill Clinton and Lance Armstrong and others.

CGI U is a project which encourages students to take action to tackle global problems, by making a commitment to personal or group action, and President Clinton opened and closed the conference, saying that young people can help to provide innovative solutions. The CGI U website offers suggestions of actions in the areas of global health, energy & climate change, human rights & peace, and poverty alleviation. The conference highlighted examples of initiatives that students have developed, and held working groups on topics from peace building to educating global youth to tackling climate change.

Meanwhile, at the Royal Preston Hospital, UK was host to the inaugral conference of Medsin Preston, a new branch of Medsin-UK. Medsin-UK also aims to tackle global health problems and provide global health solutions. (more…)

The final entry from the AMSA Conference. Chris Maki reports

It is done, finished, time to go. Yes, the AMSA convention wrapped up today with the passing of many torches, from seasoned leaders on to fresh faces and from health care and social justice activists to eager medical students. There is a hint of nostalgia in the air as out-going leaders reminisce over the accomplishments of their tenure and the often intense friendships, forged between activist medical students around common ideals and shared vision, are separated as we travel back to our schools. This passing of the torch was no less dramatic than this morning’s address from former US Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders. Before she even addressed the students, we were inspired: Dr. Elders is the first African American and second woman to hold this distinguished position. She rose to a standing ovation from the students. Here are her challenges to the upcoming leaders of US and indeed global health care:

• “You will be responsible for transforming our sick-care system to a health care system.”
• “The aim of the game is to keep people well!”
• “Health care is an investment, not an expense.”
• “We need to stop letting politicians, lawyers, and accountants run health care!” (more…)

 I thought you would be interested to read the following from Brice Jabo, a medical student from Rwanda who is currently at the AMSA Conference- Rhona

Some of the international students at the AMSA Conference
Hey! I am Brice Jabo an international member of AMSA from Rwanda (East Africa).Back home I am a 5th year medical student at the National University of Rwanda. I would like to start by thanking everyone for their hospitality. This is my first trip to the States and I did not know what to expect. However, people have been kind to me from the airport to the hotel, and AMSA members are so friendly.

The main reason I came to this convention was to support the chartering of our chapter, but throughout the convention I have been learning more reasons why coming to the convention was a good idea. Some of you may wonder what a Rwandese student is doing in AMSA, but here are some of the reasons that Rwandese students should join: (more…)

 More from Lily Gutnik at the AMSA Conference in Houston, TexasThis morning the nearly 1200 AMSA members here at convention had the privilege of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee honor AMSA with a congressional certificate of achievement! The Congresswoman spoke about the power of the medical profession, and the need for healthcare reform in this country. She was also incredibly enthusiastic and supportive of medical students being the driving force behind this change. In the spirit of American democracy, the chief of staff of Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Dr. Thomas Horvath gave a great keynote lecture about the VA healthcare system in the U.S, as well as the current issues with returning Iraq soldiers.

War is not the only thing happening in the Middleast. Dr. John Van Aalst, a craniofacial plastic surgeon from UNC volunteers his time doing cleft care in the West Bank and Gaza. (more…)

From Katie Pastorius

The American Medical Student Association “Health Care (R)evolution” rally to the Houston City Hall today was truly inspiring. Physicians, workers, and students rallied together along the streets to demand healthcare access for all and by all, we mean ALL! Speakers from the Physicians for National Health Program and Service Employees International Union motivated over 1000 students to work towards universal health care. Katie Pastorius: cpastorius@gmail.com

From Chis Maki

Welcome back to the AMSA convention. These last few days have been a blur! Trying to take in all the speakers and sessions is like trying sip out of a fire hose. There is a general air of excitement as candidates for AMSA leadership present their visions for the next year, premeds rub shoulders with the “older, wiser, more seasoned (tired)” medical students, and students from schools across the US and elsewhere get to know each other. There are many sessions I am excited to tell you about, but I will focus on one and leave some of the rest for Katie and Lily to cover.

This afternoon after a brief stint in the House of Delegates where AMSA votes on resolutions and debates policy, I attended a panel discussion entitled, “Immigration, Health, and Health Care: Exploring New Frontiers in Health Justice.” The panel consisted of a lawyer with the National Immigration Law Center, a community organizer and activist with the Worker’s Defense Project, a senior health policy analyst for the National Council of La Raz, and a Mexican immigrant named Flavito. The session focused on alerting medical students to the injustices that are occurring right under our noses as immigrants struggle for access to healthcare in the United States. The activists first dispelled some myths that exist about immigration, and educated us on what actions we can take to ensure health care is not withheld from the immigrant population. (more…)

From Lily Gutnik

When I say, HEALTHCARE you say JUSTICE! When I say AMSA, you say POWER! With those chants, enthusiasm spread throughout the conference attendees very early this morning. Today was the big day of the AMSA Rally, but that piece will be covered later by another student.  However, justice and the power of the physician to “first do no harm” were the dominant themes of the keynote address given by the esteemed JAMA editor-in-chief, Dr. Catherine DeAngelis. Dr. DeAngelis spoke passionately about the serious problem of conflict of interest in the medical profession, particularly the role of pharmaceutical companies and their profound influence and over-involvement in the practice of medicine. Over the past 10 years, MEDLINE has seen an incredible surge in articles about conflict of interest. With that in mind, Dr. DeAngelis STRONGLY urges everyone to read the upcoming APRIL 16th edition of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). (more…)