VCOM - Carolinas 2017 Yearbook

SOSA Student Osteopathic Surgical Association

Nicholas Novak, President; Truman Williams, Vice President; Joseph Glendening, Treasurer and Secretary

T he Student Osteopathic Surgical Association (SOSA) is the official student organization of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACOS). It was established to provide a means for students interested in surgical specialties to participate in the activities and governance of the ACOS. SOSA has grown significantly in the past few years and because of this growth, is focused on providing events vital to educating members in all aspects of medicine. Events during the 2016-2017 year included anatomy

tutoring for first-year students, suture and intubation clinics with local physicians, a Women in Surgery panel with five local female surgeons and residents, a local cardiothoracic surgeon guest speaker and a talk on “How to Land a Residency” with VCOM surgery chair Richard Orr, MD. SOSA leadership worked together this year to host VCOM’s first ever multi-campus surgical conference with over 100 attendees from VCOM- Carolinas and VCOM-Virginia. Sessions at the conference included suturing, intubation, chest tube insertion

on cadavers, common surgical procedures in the ER, residency panel and a keynote speaker. The SOSA executive board set up surveys for third and fourth-year medical students to provide feedback on their rotation experiences. Information gathered from this survey was utilized to better inform VCOM students about various rotation sites for those interested in a surgical specialty.

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