Faculty Advisor: Marco
Aleman, M.D., Department of General Medicine
Student Leaders: Tamara Nun tamara_nun@med.unc.edu
The Internal Medicine Interest Group
(IMIG) is a student organization at the School of Medicine at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The organization was founded to introduce
first and second year medical students to the career opportunities available
in internal medicine. We would like to introduce students to health
care topics relevant to the practice of internal medicine, as well as provide
opportunities for hands-on experience. In addition, we are interested
in learning about the rewards and challenges that each internal medicine
specialty has to offer, their accompanying lifestyle issues, etc.
In order to meet our objectives, we plan to hold a series of midday seminars
presented by internists in various subspecialties. These seminars will
address illnesses or diseases commonly treated by internists, as well as
the speakers’ perspectives on the typical daily routine, the benefits of
and the challenges of their chosen specialties. In years past, covered
topics included life as a GI specialist, the ins and outs of being an internist,
the med/peds program here at UNC, among others.
We plan to develop a mentoring program, in which students will be matched
with health care providers (physician, resident, or fellow) in internal medicine
or one of the specific specialties that interest the student. The goal
of the mentoring program is to allow students a more personal experience
by rounding with their mentor and learning first-hand what the mentor’s job
responsibilities entail.
We propose to sponsor at least one clinical training day to allow students
to gain practical experience and/or improve their clinical skills.
This will be helpful during community weeks and 3rd year in medical school.
Two training clinics have been sponsored by IMIG in the past. These
included a physical exam clinic that teamed four students up with a resident/physician
and allowed for practice of physical exam skills. The second clinic
featured residents/physicians teaching the proper reading of EKGs.
We plan to become more involved with the Medicine group here at UNC not only
with the mentoring program, but also by holding a dinner for students and
faculty/staff. This will provide students with alternative resources
for information about internal medicine. Other activities planned include
attending local and regional meetings of the ACP/ASIM and a service project
at the IFC soup kitchen in Chapel Hill.
Activities and events are planned by the leaders of this organization, including
the president, president-elect, secretary, and treasurer (and, of course,
our advisor Dr. Marco Aleman). The role of the president is to facilitate
the logistics of the organization, working in conjunction with the other
leaders to arrange for speakers, to set up the mentoring program and the
service project and to attend meetings at the local and regional levels.
The president-elect assists the president, in the prospect of leading the
group in the subsequent year. The secretary will be in charge of advertising
seminars and events, updating the website, and facilitating communications
within the organization through a listserv. The treasurer will act
to maintain the proposed budget and will be responsible for submitting proper
reimbursement applications to the student government.
Membership includes mostly UNC medical students interested in internal medicine.
Both full membership in the group and access to full participation (which
includes the opportunity to be an officer of the group and the right not
to be excluded from any group activity) is available without regard to race,
color, religion, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, sexual
orientation, or gender. A majority of the organization’s membership
shall always be UNC-CH students.
Last updated: 09/19/03