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Organization of Student Representatives (OSR)

The Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) represents medical students nationwide and provides an active role in advancing the AAMC mission to improve the nation’s health.

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  • Nov. 14, 2023
Organization of Student Representatives

Updartes and reports from the Organization of Student Represenatatives.

Organization of Student Representatives

The OSR was created in 1971 to facilitate the expression of students' ideas and views, incorporate students into the governance of the AAMC, foster the exchange of ideas among students and other concerned groups, and facilitate student action on health care issues.

The Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) fulfills a unique role among medical student organizations. As part of the AAMC, it provides all United States M.D. medical students with a voice in the nation's largest association dedicated solely to the advancement of academic medicine. The OSR provides medical students with an active role in achieving AAMC's mission to improve the nation's health through the advancement of academic medicine. Additionally, the OSR seeks to ensure that students actively participate in directing their educations, preserving their rights, and delineating their professional responsibilities. To this end, the OSR provides medical students with a voice in academic medicine at a national level and strives to foster student involvement and awareness in this arena at a local level.

Strategic Goals

  • To provide medical student input on issues addressed by the AAMC and state and federal governments that will impact student education, quality of life, or professional development.
  • To develop and Implement OSR initiatives and aid in the development and implementation of AAMC initiatives.
  • To facilitate communication between student bodies of different medical schools and between medical student organizations regarding issues relevant to medical student life and education.
  • To encourage education techniques and objectives that provide medical students with the intellectual skills, professional standards, and knowledge required to meet the needs of an evolving health care system.
  • To assure a safe, supportive learning environment free of abuse, unreasonable health risks, bias, and inequities.
  • To assure that all medical students possess equal freedom and opportunity to pursue the career directions of their choice.
  • To advance the development of leadership skills among medical students through participation in local and national OSR positions.

National Priorities

  • Student finances and the cost of medical education
  • Transition to residency
  • Wellness and resilience
  • Diversity, inclusion, and retention
  • Government relations and student advocacy
  • Educational practices and innovations
  • Humanism in medicine
  • Professional development and collaboration

Administrative Board

The OSR Administrative Board is comprised of 12 OSR primary representatives. The OSR Ad Board sets the agenda and priorities for the OSR and manages all the national activities and projects.

National Committees

The OSR has five standing national committees in assigned areas of OSR interests. Committees are comprised of a national delegate, who serves on the OSR Administrative Board, and a regional delegate from each region. The committees work on specific projects within their subject area during their one-year term.

National Officers’ Roles

Liaisons

OSR liaisons serve as the primary link between the OSR and AAMC Committees, AAMC professional development groups, and external organizations.

Regional Officers

Regional officers work with the five national committees to assist the OSR Administrative Board with national projects and interests.

Representatives for the OSR are selected by AAMC member medical schools. The role of OSR representatives is to monitor activities at their institutions, represent student opinions to the OSR Administrative Board (Ad Board), and relay national OSR and AAMC priorities to the students and staff of their institutions. Representatives may include up to one primary and three alternate institutional representatives from each of the 145 U.S. LCME accredited medical schools. OSR associate representatives are medical students who are enrolled in Canadian medical schools, though they do not have voting privileges. 

Listservs

The OSR listservs provide a venue for the exchange of information among OSR representatives. E-mailing through the OSR national listserv is a fast and convenient way to disseminate information and communicate with OSR reps across the nation.

  • National: All official primary and alternate representatives are automatically subscribed upon certification by your student affairs office. Based at the AAMC, this listserv is maintained by OSR staff.
  • Regional: The AAMC provides regional listservs for all official primary and alternate representatives in your respective region. Reps are automatically subscribed to a respective region upon certification. Contact your regional chair or OSR staff at osr@aamc.org. for more information.
  • Legislative Affairs: This list is a forum for discussion of legislative affairs topics pertinent to OSR reps and to encourage communication among reps with interest in legislative affairs issues. Based at the AAMC, this listserv is maintained by OSR staff.

The listserv is not an appropriate avenue for distributing surveys/personal research projects without Ad Board knowledge. If you have a question about if your project is appropriate for distribution on the listserv, please contact OSR staff at osr@aamc.org.

Listserv Questionnaire Results

OSR reps periodically seek informal data and information through the OSR listserv on medical school programs and policies regarding various issues such as curricular changes, testing, funding, etc. The responses to these queries are collected from the OSR listserv and listed as PDFs. You can request archived questionnaire results by emailing osr@aamc.org.

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award, administered through the OSR, annually honors a medical school faculty physician (M.D. or D.O. degree) who exemplifies the qualities of a caring and compassionate mentor in the teaching and advising of medical students. The nominee must also possess the desirable personal qualities necessary to the practice of patient-centered medicine by teaching ethics, empathy, and service by example.

The goal of the award is to emphasize, reinforce, and enhance the importance of humanistic qualities among medical school students and faculty. The presence of a caring, compassionate, and collaborative learning environment serves as positive reinforcement to prospective physicians of the desirability of such qualities in the doctor-patient relationship. 

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 Official governance and administration information for members of the Organization of Student Representatives.

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