2023 Edition
“Everything is within your power, and your power is within you.”
Janice Trachtman
The Editor's Take: Until The Next One!
Welcome back AMWA to the last edition of the Newsletter for the 2022-2023 year! I would first like to thank all of you that have spent time to read and support our articles over the year. Being your Editor-In-Chief this year was such a great experience and I can’t wait to continue this next year! Writing has always been a passion of mine and being a part of the Newsletter truly helped me combine both medicine and writing into one form. I joined the AMWA Newsletter Committee my sophomore year and over time I got to write and learn about medicine and women’s health in terms of technology, history, and news. I got to collaborate with all of the writers and learn so much about their ideas and takes on healthcare.
I’m grateful that AMWA UTD has this platform to explore our voice on crucial topics and topic that truly interests us, overall. Also, I would like to thank all of you that have submitted articles this year. It means so much to me that the Newsletter can be a place for you to share your thoughts and your voice. I hope that we will be able to incorporate more submissions from the AMWA UTD community next year as well.
As always, if you have topics or columns incorporated in the Newsletter, feel free to email me at Tanya.Baiju@utdallas.edu.
Until the next one!
- Tanya
AMWA Reflection
By: Janavi Mehta
As much as I love my biology major, I have always loved reading and writing as well. The AMWA community has given me a blessed opportunity to express and devote time to writing and polishing my writing skills. Even more so, I’m grateful that I was trusted and given this platform to write about interesting topics that I wanted to share my thoughts and knowledge about. From writing about the gut microbiome to Gertrude B. Elion to midterm elections’ impact on health policies, I was thrilled to explore the limits of my writing and the topics that can expand the range of AMWA newsletters. As we near the curtain call for the 2022-2023 school year, I remember all the meetings, valuable advice, volunteer opportunities, and more that I have gained due to the hard work of all the AMWA officers. I’ve gotten to befriend amazing people and connect with many women with similar dreams but different stories who have inspired me and supported me through my years with AMWA.
A special thank you to all the people whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with on the newsletter committee, our committee head Tanya, and VP of communications Samy for creating a great space for passionate writers in the pre-health field. Reflecting as a senior, I’m so happy and excited to see where AMWA goes next and I’m glad I had a chance to see the growth happen and be a part of that growth! These memories I’ve made with AMWA will not be forgotten. I’m glad that I had a chance to leave a piece of my voice with AMWA even as I move on to future horizons.
Reflecting on the Years Past
By: Hafsa Mohammed
This will be my last spring semester as a UTD student and as an AMWA member. I started UTD during the time of COVID when everything was online. Connecting with other pre-health students and finding people going through the same struggle was difficult. But then, I found AMWA. I joined the GroupMe my freshman year and became an official member by my sophomore year.
Volunteering, attending events, and writing with you girls have been one of the most enjoyable parts of my college experience. There’s always this character type of “toxic pre-med”. While this term is generally applied to pre-med students, I find that there is some version of this archetype in most pre-health fields. AMWA was perhaps the first pre-health organization I joined, where pre-med toxicity was nowhere to be found.
As the year is coming to an end, and I’m nearing graduation next semester, I’ve come to realize how much AMWA, and especially the Newsletter Committee has shaped my vision of medicine. It’s not just about helping our patients, but working collaboratively with others in our field to create a positive environment. I’m looking forward to writing more articles in the semester to come and am a firm believer that there are great things coming for our org! Peace out for now.
- Hafsa
Reflections
By: Zoe Du
It feels surreal that another year is coming to a close. When I first joined AMWA UTD’s newsletter committee, I was a green freshman, excited to start college, explore who I was, and find community on campus. The past two years have felt like a blur; time feels slow in the moment, yet those moments pile on quickly until suddenly, I find myself halfway through college.
Reflecting on my college experience thus far, I would consider myself successful on both counts. The newsletter committee has provided me with a creative outlet to bring out the inner journalist I never knew I had as I explore old interests, like health advocacy, from a new perspective or push myself to delve into new topics, like social media’s impact on dieting culture. Through the newsletter, I now also have a community that supports me as I grow as a writer, and I hope as a person.
As I sign off for the year, I just want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has supported the newsletter. I hope you have enjoyed reading our voices and stories as much as we have enjoyed sharing them. Until next year!
AMWA Reflection
By: Alyssa Chiev
I had never thought I would be writing much outside of high school, let alone that people would actually enjoy reading my work. When I was in 4th grade, I was an ESL student juggling three languages at once. On one assignment, I was tasked to write a fictional story for my English class. I failed the assignment. After that, I lacked confidence in my writing abilities. Despite this setback, I knew that writing was something I loved to do, and I was determined to improve. Over the years I honed my English skills and developed my writing abilities. Now I find myself writing for the American Medical Women’s Association on campus.
I am grateful for the opportunity to write about topics that I am passionate about and I am thankful for the newsletter committee for being an outlet for me whenever I am stressed, upset, or sad. This semester, I had the chance to write about my future career goal in Aerospace Medicine, my campus research on virus-like particles, and a topic personally significant to me - diversity in medicine. When I write these articles, I feel that I am not only sharing information but giving readers a glimpse into who I am as a person. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the newsletter team for being amazing to work with throughout this year and especially to the readers for taking the time to read our monthly newsletters. I wish everyone good luck for the remainder of the semester and see you all next year!
AMWA Reflection
By: Siya Kumar
I joined AMWA during my freshman year of college hoping to join a community of people who share the same goals and passions as me. While doing so I decided to join the AMWA
Newsletter Committee which has allowed me to be part of essential discussions in medicine. Being part of the AMWA Newsletter Committee has allowed me to showcase my creative side in the world of being a STEM major and I get to work with other excellent writers who bring so much creativity and substance to the newsletter.
My first article was “The Overturning of Roe v. Wade” alongside Alyssa Chiev. This article was very significant to me not just because it is the first article I wrote for AMWA, but because it talked about the detrimental supreme court ruling that affected the lives of millions nationwide. As an organization in which one of the main focuses is women in medicine, talking about the overturning of Roe v. Wade wasn't even a question. We talked about what the ruling meant for people who can get pregnant, and the effects on those who can conceive in particular those who are lower income or struggle with mental/ physical health issues. I think it was crucial to bring attention to the ruling, especially on our college campus where such topics should be discussed. I like how AMWA Newsletter has allowed us to shed light on such topics so we can create the discussion in a non-toxic environment.
AMWA Newsletter Committee has created an outlet for writers, such as myself to address topics such as mental health awareness, injustices worldwide, or even the stress of being a woman in medicine. I am glad I was able to be part of the committee because I got to voice my opinion on a wider scale, be more involved on the campus in a positive light, and got to grow as a writer. I hope for the future of the Newsletter that we continue to create conversation on campus by writing about prevalent topics and can have a bigger outreach in our community.
Thank you to all of our amazing writers this semester for giving us your 110% on these articles and providing AMWA with new insights! We look forward to what the Newsletter Committee will bring in the future and hope that AMWA members have also been able to enjoy these pieces.
- AMWA UTD Officers
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