Brian Liu and Hayley Gorman will each spend their third year of medical school serving on the national executive board of the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP). Liu was appointed as National Programs Representative and Gorman as National Global Health Representative.
“Many people aren’t really aware of COSGP and who we are,” Liu noted. “We are an AACOM council which presents ideas and initiatives before the AACOM Board of Deans. One of the major initiatives proposed last year was Matchbook, a resource that helps medical students see which residency programs other students matched into based on criteria such as board scores. We are excited to say that a preliminary roll-out will begin later this year. We also work very closely with the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) and are excited to keep that relationship growing into the future. Sometimes there is some confusion amongst students on the overlap between COSGP and SOMA, and I feel our former chair summed it up perfectly: ‘COSGP takes care of you while you’re in medical school, SOMA takes care of you for the rest of your careers.’”
After one year on the COSGP council, members are eligible to run for national positions. Liu just wrapped up serving as BCOM’s Student Government Association (SGA) president for the 2018-19 school year, and Gorman served as vice president. Both students said that being part of COSGP has afforded them opportunities to network and exchange ideas with other osteopathic medical students across the country.
As National Programs Representative, Liu will be co-chairing the Student Services Committee and he will oversee the TOUCH (Translating Osteopathic Understanding in Community Health) program, which encourages osteopathic students to engage in service throughout their community to reach those who may not be aware of osteopathic ideals and principles. “One of my objectives this year is to really scrub the TOUCH data and publicly showcase the impact osteopathic students have in giving back to their communities,” he said.
Gorman’s role as National Global Health Representative will entail working closely with AACOM and DOcare to analyze global health curriculums at various osteopathic colleges, as well as working with newer schools on creating global health programs. “I cannot wait to work with my new committee,” she said. “This year we want to promote the Global Health Award, create a ‘tool kit’ for new schools starting global health programs, and research data we have collected in regards to curriculums across the country. This experience is going to help me tremendously in the future. These leaders are my colleagues and I could be working with them in the future. It is great to have these connections that facilitate teamwork and make the world of medicine a little bit smaller.”
Liu added that he is looking forward to learning how to be an advocate and working alongside individuals from all backgrounds to achieve a common goal. He said, “No matter someone’s role, there is always valuable input to be heard and considered.”
