{"id":49037,"date":"2017-11-15T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=49037"},"modified":"2017-11-14T16:01:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T21:01:06","slug":"m-d-ph-d-student-chosen-to-serve-on-aamc-board-of-directors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2017\/11\/15\/m-d-ph-d-student-chosen-to-serve-on-aamc-board-of-directors\/","title":{"rendered":"M.D.\/Ph.D. student chosen to serve on AAMC Board of Directors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Marie Walters is an M.D.\/Ph.D. student at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) selected Marie Walters, an M.D.\/Ph.D. student at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine<\/a>, to serve as the medical student representative on its 2017-2018 Board of Directors.<\/p>\n

Passionate about advocating for medical students, Walters has been active with the AAMC, serving as an AAMC representative since 2013. She served as the chair to the Central Region on the AAMC Organization of Student Representatives Administrative Board in 2015 and then worked as the liaison to the AAMC Committee on Student Affairs in 2016.<\/p>\n

She has attended national and regional meetings and worked with students, medical school deans, program directors and other student affairs staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on the Board of Directors will be an extension of my current role,\u201d Walters said. \u201cI will be able to advocate for medical students nationwide at the highest level of the AAMC.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Walters has established herself as a respected leader among her peers, professors and school administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer signature achievement during her tenure at Wright State University has been the founding and visionary leadership of the successful Boonshoft Pride group,\u201d said Gary L. LeRoy, M.D., associate dean of student affairs and admissions and associate professor of family medicine at the Boonshoft School of Medicine. \u201cThis student-led organization promotes awareness of health care issues unique to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allies (LGBTQA) populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walters\u2019 vision of Boonshoft Pride came out of an AAMC meeting, where she attended a roundtable discussion about programming that LGBTQA organizations held at other medical schools. \u201cI realized that we did not have such an organization,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, I started Boonshoft Pride from those AAMC conversations. I have been inspired by the people I have met at the AAMC.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November 2016, Walters and others from Boonshoft Pride showcased a poster about the new organization at an AAMC meeting in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Walters grew up in Centerville and attended Centerville schools. \u201cMy parents put education first,\u201d she said. \u201cWe often did without things so we could continue to live in the Centerville school district.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she was 14, her father suffered a debilitating heart attack that left him with permanent brain damage. In addition to her mother, she and her three siblings became her father\u2019s caregivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis biggest symptom is memory loss,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw firsthand how someone can change overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

She attended high school in Dayton at Miami Valley School, an independent college preparatory school, on a full-ride scholarship. From there, she went on to Emory University, where she earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in neuroscience. At Emory, she worked in an Alzheimer\u2019s patient unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt fueled my passion to help other families,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew firsthand how small changes can improve quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

She earned a master\u2019s degree in neuroscience at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom and returned to Emory to work as a research coordinator in the Department of Neurology at Emory. She always thought she wanted to be a neuroscientist. But her role at Emory introduced her to M.D.\/Ph.D. professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw that I could work with people in the clinical setting and do research,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

So, at age 24, she looked for M.D.\/Ph.D. programs and applied to the Boonshoft School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaculty members at Emory encouraged me to look at the Boonshoft School of Medicine,\u201d she said. \u201cI was blown away by the research and the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is receiving a significant scholarship to cover medical school and Ph.D. tuition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reduced financial burden for me has made medical school significantly easier than my undergraduate studies where I was constantly working other jobs,\u201d said Walters, who is starting her fifth year of the seven-year M.D.\/Ph.D. program<\/a>. \u201cI am extremely grateful for the relief that scholarships afford me, and I hope to pay it forward to students in the future when I am a physician.\u201d<\/p>\n

After she graduates in 2020, Walters would like to pursue a residency in neurology. As part of her Ph.D. studies, she is researching neurophysiology, a branch of physiology and neuroscience that focuses on the study of the functioning of the nervous system. After residency, she would like to work in health care administration or policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why this position at the AAMC is exciting for me,\u201d she said. \u201cIn my career, I hope to work with leaders and legislators to improve health care nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serving on the Association of American Medical Colleges board will allow Marie Walters to advocate for medical students nationwide. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":49042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2040,725,2149,2016,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-giving","category-home-news-sidebar","category-medical-students","category-medicine","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49037"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49046,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49037\/revisions\/49046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}