Second-year McGill medical student, Alexandre Elhalwi has been elected as the President of the Comité des étudiants en médecine de l’Association Médicale du Québec, a new committee borne of a recent Quebec Medical Association (QMA) restructuring.
The QMA is an organization that promotes medical professionalism through advocacy and political action, providing physicians, residents and medical students with a forum for discussion as well as a voice on important issues affecting the delivery of healthcare services and the health of the population. The QMA focuses on political medical issues, including clinical governance, overdiagnosis and health care reform, among others.
This will be Elhalwi’s second year on the QMA’s student committee, having had the opportunity last year to participate as voting member of the QMA’s delegation at the Canadian Medical Association’s General Council, akin to the “National Parliament of Medicine” where many important issues in health care are discussed, debated, and then voted on, with these positions ultimately helping to shape health care policy in Canada.
“Attending last year made me feel like change in the health care system is achievable and that medical students have an important role to play in that change,” says Elhalwi. “My classmates and other medical students across Quebec are my teammates in this endeavour and I believe that it’s important for us to all be well-versed in advocacy and political action. My focus this year as President of the committee will be to facilitate the development of those advocacy and leadership skills, and to encourage and support the advocacy projects that medical students are already working on.”
Congratulations Alexandre!
October 13, 2016