Reflection from M4 students: AAMC RISE Seminar Workshop
A reflection from fourth-year medical students Diana Albaba and Colin Fricker, who recently attended the AAMC RISE Seminar.
This last month, we had the opportunity to attend RISE: Developing Future Leaders in Academic Medicine & Science, a three-day conference hosted by the AAMC [Association of American Medical Colleges] in Washington, D.C., for fourth-year medical students to help with the transition to residency. Medical students from across the country were in attendance, having been nominated by their respective schools, which created the best environment for networking between soon-to-be resident physicians.
The conference consisted of multiple large group and small group sessions that were centered around discovering personal strengths, building leadership skills, conflict resolution and preparation for challenges inherent to medical training in residency. While the information presented in the sessions was all very valuable, the most priceless lesson from that weekend was to understand the power of personal reflection and communication skills in solving problems. After every session, we had the chance to be vulnerable with our small groups, share personal experiences and reflect on our own stories, which personalized every discussion we had as a small group. Because of the intimacy, we grew close with members of these groups and formed relationships that we hope to continue past the conference.
One other big theme for the weekend was to reconnect with our missions that led us into the field of medicine. A very powerful personal story was shared by one of the speakers on the first day about how he ended up becoming a physician, which helped all the attendees be open and vulnerable for the remainder of the weekend. Likewise, during the wrap-up session on the last day, a quote by Edith Wharton was shared by one of the organizers of the conference that was introduced to him by his late father. We want to share this quote because it spoke to us in a way we had never thought about before. The quote says, “there are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.” This quote alone summarizes the empowerment that we all felt by attending the conference.
In summary, this conference exceeded our expectations in how resourceful and impactful it would be. We write this reflection to share that if you, as a reader, are thinking of getting involved with an organization or attending a conference that you are not sure about, you should take that leap because the lessons you may gain from going will be far more valuable than you anticipate them to be.