Start A New Branch

If you are interested in starting a Premedical AMWA branch you have come to the right place. As the founder of an official AMWA premedical branch, you will participate in a long tradition of working to advance the needs of women in medicine.  AMWA provides its members with invaluable benefits, such as professional support and friendship, opportunities for mentoring by other AMWA members from various backgrounds and in their careers, and support for career and leadership development.  AMWA also offers various scholarships and grants to aide you through your premedical journey such as overseeing training opportunities and providing free lodging for medical school and residency interviews. You are joining forces with hundreds of premedical members in celebrating the achievements of women in medicine while working to secure a brighter future for women. Now let’s get started!

Prior to starting your branch, we encourage you to contact the Vice President of Recruitment and your Region Director who will assist you and help you throughout this process.

If you are interested in starting a branch you should do the following:

• Identify a minimum of 5 active premedical AMWA members.
  • Active members are those who have paid their membership dues under National AMWA.
  • Any student who currently in their premedical years qualifies as an active member. This includes undergraduate, post-bacc, graduate students, and any other student who has not matriculated to medical school. Students can join here.
• Find a faculty advisor.
• Find a physician advisor.
• Contact your institution’s Student Affairs Office to learn what steps you will need to take to establish a new student group at your college or university.

Please note: Students are not considered AMWA members until they have registered as a member with national AMWA and paid membership dues. This means that if a person puts AMWA on their job or medical school applications, National AMWA will not be able to verify that claim unless they have registered as a national member. The Premedical Division offers a yearly rate of $20 in membership dues or a one-time membership fee of $65 covering ALL PREMEDICAL YEARS leading to admission to Medical School, including post-bacc and graduate school years. You should encourage as many potential members as possible to join AMWA!

Once you have completed those tasks, you will need to organize your first meeting. This will include doing the following:

• Hold elections for your executive board. We require having National Members hold these positions to ensure that you always meet your minimum requirement of five national members.
• Go over your branch bylaws, constitutions, and objectives. Set goals for your branch for the upcoming year.

Once you have completed all the tasks above you must email the National Premedical President, National Premedical Vice President of Recruitment, and your Regional Director with the following information:

• Leadership List:
  • Names, positions, email addresses, and current AMWA premedical member status of elected officials – including the minimum 5 AMWA members
  • Name, title, and email address of faculty advisor
  • Name, title, and and email address of physician advisor
  • Valid branch email address (An email address not associated with any person in particular that will remain the same through leadership transitions) [e.g.amwa[universityname]@gmail.com]
  • Designate a National Liaison (A person who will remain in contact with the national leadership team and accordingly work on keeping their branch up to date with national leadership. This does not have to be its own position, and it can be the responsibility of someone who is already on the executive team.)
• Your Branch Constitution and Bylaws (View a sample of the bylaws here.)
• List of national AMWA Branch Members

Once we have reviewed this information we will contact you with further instructions. Upon successful completion of this process, you will have become a nationally recognized AMWA branch. The Vice President of Recruitment will contact you to inform you of your status. This qualifies your branch and branch members to receive the awards and incentives offered throughout the year.

Tips for Starting a Successful Branch:

Your First Meeting:

1.     Elect an executive board (only National Members are eligible for leadership positions)
2.     Agree on Branch Constitution and Bylaws
3.     Set branch goals for your first year based on the Active Branch Requirements
4.     Decide on fundraising strategies and advocacy initiatives
5.     Complete all necessary paperwork to be a registered organization at your school
6.     Familiarize yourselves with the Branch Toolkit and Premedical Division of the website.
7.     Familiarize yourselves with the Premedical Program Book as it has some great resources!

Your First Year and Beyond:

1.     Update your branch leadership information with your Regional Director when needed
2.     Send in monthly updates to your Regional Director when prompted
3.     Make sure to verify AMWA membership as new members join your branch
4.     Complete the Annual Report at the end of each academic year
5.     Have your all of your leadership team follow the Regional and National Facebook pages
6.     Encourage your members to participate in opportunities posted on social media
7.     Continue to check the Branch Toolkit for updated documents and templates

Additional Tips:

• You must keep your Regional Director up-to-date on your branch’s leadership contact information, especially after leadership transitions, in order to remain active. You should also be in contact them regarding branch related updates and issues.
• Each branch is required to complete the “Monthly Informational Form”; a monthly form provided by their region director, with updates on their branch activity. Failure to complete these forms may result in the loss of an active status.
  • It is suggested that one member of the branch’s leadership team serves as the National Liaison, and complete the aforementioned forms and maintain correspondence.
• As new members join, please be sure that you have verification of their registration with national AMWA.
• We encourage you and your members to read their monthly AMWA emails, including the Premedical Newsletter and NewsFlash. You can also send a brief summary and pictures from events your branch has hosted to the Premedical Secretary and Premedical Social Media Chair. These will be shared with the Premedical Division via the Premedical Newsletter and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter).  
• When sharing posts and event photos of your branch use the hashtags #AMWA, #AMWAPremed, and any other local relevant AMWA hashtag to share it with the community.
• Encourage your branch members to apply for featured opportunities and awards.
• Encourage your branch members to become involved in leadership activities at the local and national levels. These are great ways to become more involved in AMWA.
• Encourage your branch members to attend the Annual Meeting. It is a great networking and learning opportunity! Contact your Region Director for more information on funding your trip.