Leaders of National Latino/Hispanic Medical Student Organization to Meet in New Mexico

This Saturday (May 22), The University of New Mexico School of Medicine will host the national board retreat of the Latino Student Medical Association (LMSA).

Some 20 medical student leaders of the organization will meet in Albuquerque to discuss their strategic plan for the upcoming year, including a 50th anniversary celebration, set for March 2022.

The LMSA is the oldest and largest medical student organization dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx-identified pre-med and medical students in the country, said John Paul Sanchez, MD, associate vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the UNM Health Sciences Center.

“Although Hispanics represent 18% of the general population, they represent 8-9% of medical students, and 4-5% of faculty,” Sanchez said. UNM LMSA chapter president Michaela Granados and vice president Luis Trillo will be present during the retreat, he added.

Student and faculty leaders will meet with Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and CEO of the UNM Health System, and interim dean Martha Cole McGrew, MD, for a discussion titled, Increasing, Retaining, and Nurturing Latino/Latina/Latinx/Hispanic Presence at UNM HSC.

LMSA grew out of five regional organizations founded by Hispanic/Latino medical students in the 1970s and 1980s. They formed a consortium in 1987 and the organization assumed its current name during the 2009-2010 academic year.