Get Involved

Advocacy Partnerships: The Advocacy Partnerships team is responsible for building and maintaining a partnership network to advance OMSA’s advocacy work. Partners in the past have included organizations such as Docs for LTC Justice, Decent Work and Health Network, Health Providers Against Poverty (HPAP), and others.

Day of Action: This team organizes the logistics of the Day of Action, an annual event where students meet with MPPs, to advocate for a key issue relevant to Ontarians that resonates with Ontario medical students. Day of Action is preceded by a training weekend to help medical students develop advocacy skills and practice speaking with policymakers and the media.

Longitudinal Government: The Longitudinal Government Team works to engage OMSA with the provincial government throughout the year. Members from the six medical schools will develop and maintain relationships with the MPP of their local riding and/or MPPs relevant to OMSA’s advocacy priorities. The members will also research and invite MPPs to the Day of Action and participate actively in facilitating the meetings.

Policy and Response: The Policy & Response & Implementation Team aims to establish OMSA as an eminent and knowledgeable voice on the Ontario health and policy landscape. This team has three sub-committees:

• Policy Research sub-committee: focuses on working with medical students to publish policy reports or position papers with recommendations on a particular advocacy issue. The team will also research and put together the backgrounder and recommendations for the Day of Action in collaboration with the Day of Action team.
• Rapid-Response sub-committee: focuses on responding to emerging issues identified by medical students as relevant to the OMSA goal and vision through press releases, op-eds, and other advocacy actions.
• Implementation sub-committee: focuses on liaising with authors of past policy papers to support their efforts to act on the recommendations outlined in their papers. They will also design and execute advocacy strategies to further the mission of adopted policy papers.

IT: The IT Committee is responsible for maintaining and updating the OMSA Websites (omsa.ca, omsw.ca, osmerc.ca). Applicants do not need technical skills when applying.

Design: The Design Team is responsible for designing logos, infographics, and assorted promotional materials as needed for initiatives spearheaded by various OMSA portfolios. All team members should have some familiarity and experience with graphic design/ creating graphics.

Social Media: The Social Media Committee is responsible for, but not limited to, call for submissions and production of the monthly OMSA Communique, sharing OMSA events and promotions via OMSA’s social media platforms, responding to comments and questions on OMSA’s social media platform, and using OMSA’s social media platforms to share opportunities and news relating to Ontario medical students.

Student Highlights: The Student Highlights Team’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, coordinating and releasing the OMSA Student of the Season and sharing Ontario student highlights and initiatives. The team’s focus is to share and highlight the initiatives of Ontario medical students to help empower students and to spread awareness of initiatives across the province.

Bilingualism: Dans le cadre de notre objectif d'améliorer l'accès des étudiants francophones à nos activités, services et ressources éducatives, nous recrutons des étudiants pour rejoindre notre Comité du bilinguisme. Les membres du comité participeront à la préparation et/ou à la traduction de documents de communication en français.

1. Traduction de documents officiels et de pages web:
   • Assurer la mise à jour appropriée de toutes les informations en français sur le site web de l'AÉMO ;
   • Traduire les documents importants tels que le Manuel pour étudiant de première année ou le Guide des ressources humaines en santé, identifiés par le conseil AÉMO.
   • Travailler avec les comités de design graphique et de site web de l'AÉMO pour assurer les mises à jour appropriées.
2. Médias sociaux:
   • Traduire au moins 60 % de tous les posts des médias sociaux sur Twitter, Facebook et Instagram, à la demande du comité des médias sociaux.
3. Organiser des évenements en français (avec des présentateurs/trices francophones, ou pour éduquer les étudiant(e)s comment prendre une histoire en français, etc.) 

Education Services: The Education Services Committee encompasses a broad range of initiatives, including the Incoming Student Handbook, Clerkship Resources, and Alternative and Adjunct Careers Guide. This committee endeavours to create tools to support medical students in their career exploration and training journey.

MSERG: The Ontario Student Medical Education Research Conference (OSMERC) is a health professions education conference for students, by students. The OSMERC Committee is responsible for creating, developing, and running this annual conference.

OSMERC: The Medical Student Education Research Grant (MSERG) aims to engage and support trainees in medical education scholarship. The MSERG Committee implements and oversees the annual program, including the application and review process.

Medical Education Policy: The Medical Education Policy Committee leads the editing, publishing, and disseminating of position papers. This committee also collaborates and consults with medical students across Ontario to incorporate actionable changes into medical education.

Internal EDID: The Internal EDID committee will act as resources and advocates for EDID priorities within OMSA. Each General Member will be responsible for working with OMSA Council to ensure accountability of the portfolio towards OMSA’s EDI Priorities.

External EDID: The External EDID committee will work to support EDID initiatives beyond the OMSA Board including the annual EDID Conference and networking with other EDID-minded student organizations such as the Black Medical Student Association of Canada (BMSAC), Indigenous Medical Student Association of Canada (IMSAC), and the Canadian Queer Medical Students Association (CQMSA).

Northern Ontario & Rural Medicine (NORM): The NORM Sub-Committee Chairs will have a great deal of responsibility, which includes liaising with school administration and/or community partners, helping to organize events, secure funding for projects, and collaborating with other OMSA committees. Junior Sub-Committee Chairs will work to fufill the three primary aims of NORM while focusing on northern and rural student engagement, northern and rural health advocacy, and gaps within northern and rural medical education.

Grants and Awards: This committee will develop, improve and administer OMSA's financial grant and award offerings. Responsibilities will include visiting and updating OMSA's Grants and Awards rubrics, marking submissions and developing/researching/funding new and innovative awards for Ontario Medical Students. One goal of this committee is to give our grants a better focus on EDI. People with different lived experiences and backgrounds will be crucial in this mission and are encouraged to apply. 

Governance: The Governance Committee aims to achieve organizational excellence through reviewing, updating, and ensuring compliance with new and existing OMSA policies and procedures, maintaining and updating constitution and bylaws, and identifying organizational risks and gaps.

Mentorship: The OMSA Mentorship Program aims to establish one-on-one relationships between Ontario medical students and physicians and residents based on professional, clinical, and personal interests. The goal of our committee is to provide direct support, encouragement, and mentorship that is specifically tailored to students’ needs and goals.

Wellness Engagement and Programming (WEPS): The WEPS committee develops evidence based wellness initiatives for medical students throughout Ontario. These initiatives are aimed at promoting self-care; wellness education; and prioritizing physical, mental, and emotional health. Past projects have included board game nights, resident panels, and Perspectives in Medicine, a creative writing and art platform.

Wellness Retreat: OMSA’s Wellness Retreat is an annual weekend retreat that takes place during the winter/spring of each school year. The OMSA Wellness Committee organizes and executes this retreat, with the goal of providing students from different medical schools with the opportunity to relax and connect with each other through activities like skiing, campfires, and movie nights.

Mental Health Research: The Mental Health Research Committee creates resources, plans research studies, and conducts literature reviews that seek to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Ontario medical students. Examples of past work include infographics, Scrub In articles, resource documents, and research studies.