In an attempt to combat a lack of diversity at UVM, a group of pre-medical students formed the Minority Association for Pre-Medical Students in the spring of 2013. 

With 23 members, senior Chris Veal, president of the club, said he is pleasantly surprised by how the club has grown in the last year. 

“I had great plans for [the club], and I really think it brings a lot to UVM,” Veal said.

The goal of the club is to help minority students feel welcome at UVM, Veal said. By creating the club, Veal believes he has done just that. Before there was no medical club that catered to minority groups

“I think that UVM does have a disparity in the amount of minorities they have at the school,” Veal said.  “UVM has definitely begun targeting minority groups, but just because they target them doesn’t mean they’re going to be successful.”

This program aims to ensure that qualified minorities will want to come to this school, Veal said. 

When Veal speaks of minorities, he doesn’t just mean race.  The club is open to all types of minorities.

“Our club is catering towards any and all underrepresented groups in the medical school,” Veal said.  “These include the LGBTQ community, the lower socioeconomic status community and of course the racial minorities.”

The club is similar to that of the Premedical Enhancement Program in that it has a lot to do with networking and marketing, Veal said. 

It is all about getting into medical school and helping pre-med students reach that point, he said.  

“UVM is unique in that it has a hospital and a medical school right on campus,” Veal said.  “That’s something that not even Harvard has.”  

“[The club] is able to market off of that the same way that the Premedical Enhancement Program is,” he said. “We just want to use our facilities to our full advantage.”

The conferences that some club members have attended include the National Student Medical Association, which the club is a chapter of.  Students have benefitted from these conferences a lot, Veal said. 

“One of our members attended a conference last fall and got a job at Brown this summer as a result,” Veal said.

The group isn’t just looking for pre-medical students as members either. 

“Our program is open to pre-dental and physician assistant students as well,” sophomore Fathima Sameen said.

The club expects a continued growth as they market to incoming first-years next year and expand their marketing and networking opportunities.