Please see the NEW AOA at USU Fall 2023 Newsletter below:
Class of 2022 End-of-year Banquet
Congratulations to the Class of 2022 on their recent graduation! Our AOA members of the class were recently honored at an end-of-year banquet, skillfully organized by 2Lt Paige Oates and 2LT Zach Riggenbach. Special thanks also to our keynote speaker CAPT Arlene Hudson and a huge congratulations to our 2022 Award Recipients:
2022 Resident Teacher of the Year: CPT Patrick Reeves
2022 Faculty Mentor of the Year: Dr. Richele Corrado
2022 Faculty Teacher of the Year: Dr. Adam Barelski
Thank you all for coming out to celebrate. The evening was a huge success and provided a great way of sending off our new graduates. Congratulations all!
Bryson Hewins Awarded Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Bryson Hewins for being awarded the AΩA 2022 Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship! Her research project is entitled Neuronal-Derived Extracellular Vessicles May Facilitate Adenosine Mediated Neuroprotective Effects in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study. Well done Bryson!
AOA at USU Spring 2020 Newsletter
Please see NEW AOA at USU Spring 2020 Newsletter below.
UPDATE: AOA at USU Class 2020 Overview
Please see NEW UPDATED AOA at USU Class 2020 Overview below.
AOA at USU December 2019 Newsletter
Please see below for the December 2020 edition of the AOA at USU Newsletter. Have a happy holidays!
AOA at USU Class 2020 Overview
Please see AOA at USU Class 2020 Overview below for details regarding new class leadership of 2020 as well as preliminary plans for the upcoming year.
June Overview Newsletter
Here you will find the June Overview Letter, which includes our mission statement, election process, timeline, and state of the chapter by each leadership position.
Winter Newsletter
Welcome to our Winter Newsletter detailing the match results for our AOA members. Congratulations to everyone and best of luck at your training in the coming years!
Fall Newsletter
We are pleased to present the AOA Fall Newsletter! In it, you will find information about upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, award opportunities, and fun facts about what our AOA members are doing/accomplishing during rotations.
Most notably, remember that specialty night is tonight (November 28, 2017) at USU and our next N Street Village event is on December 15, 2017.
June Overview Letter
This is our first public, online communication as the incoming AOA class of 2018! Here you will find the June Overview Letter, which includes our mission statement, election process, timeline, and state of the chapter by each leadership position.
Fall Newsletter
Check out what has been happening and what is coming up with our Fall Newsletter!
Click here to access the newsletter.
Thanks to everyone who contributed. Please continue to send contributions to shannon.thompson@usuhs.edu.
How Your Body Works: June 20th
Each month AOA leads an educational class called "How Your Body Works" at the N Street Village for women. These classes empower women to learn more about how their own bodies work and take control of their healthcare needs. This month's class topic was the heart. The hour quickly passed as the 15-20 women learned about heart physiology, preventative health measures, and asked questions. The group is lead by AOA members but is also open to willing volunteers if space is available. Each month requires 2-3 volunteers. Contact Adrienne Wendling at adrienne.wendling@usuhs.edu for more information.
N Street Village’s Health Fair
AOA was well-represented at the N Street Village's Health Fair, last Wednesday, May 18th. USU students are known to N Street for the "How Your Body Works" classes which are held to teach clients of N Street each month about various health-related topics including diabetes, physical exercise, and lung disease. Alongside other organizations providing heart health information, visual acuity screening, nutrition and cooking information; AOA members provided blood pressure and glucose screenings to clients during the annual 2-hour event.
AΩA Banquet Photos
The Spring Banquet was a wonderful success! After welcoming remarks by Jeremy Bolin, Chapter President and COL Patrick O'Malley, MC, USA, Chapter Councilor, new members were welcomed into the chapter, and senior members were awarded their honor cords to be worn at the Commencement Ceremony Saturday, 21 May 2016. Chapter Awards were presented including: Faculty Mentor of the Year-Norman Waecker, Faculty Teacher of the Year-Heather Yun, and Resident Teacher of the Year-Elizabeth Perkins. The guest speaker of the evening was RADM (Ret) Boris D. Lushniak, MD, MPH who served as acting Surgeon General of the United States from July 2013- December 2014. He encouraged Alpha Omega Alpha members to be advocates for public health as well as to "look over the walls" to the people we are serving. As we progress through our medical careers, we should never become so encapsulated by the walls of seemingly endless training that we forget the people for whom we are training. The night was concluded with closing remarks by incoming Chapter President, Andrew Branting, who recognized the outstanding accomplishments of the 2016 class and presented a vision for moving forward with continued Alpha Omega Alpha involvement in community service and wellness advocacy. Thank you to all the faculty, staff, alumni, and guests who made this a very special night!
Read moreUSU AΩA Spring Newsletter
The past four years of medical school have flown by for the Class of 2016, never mind the year we spent at the helm of the Maryland Gamma Chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha. Nevertheless, we are very proud of our accomplishments in such a short period of time.
In the Spring 2016 newsletter, you can read about the big changes we have made to the Chapter over the past year. Also included are a parting message from the outgoing Chapter president, words of wisdom from the Chapter councilor, a welcome to our newest ΑΩΑ members, and an announcement of the inaugural chapter award winners.
You can read the Spring 2016 newsletter by clicking here.
We hope that you continue to contribute to future issues of this newsletter by sending in updates on your life at or post-USU. Submissions may be sent to the new communications chair at shannon.thompson@usuhs.edu
AΩA Banquet
AΩA members are cordially invited to attend the 2016 Spring Banquet! The details are below.
Friday, May 13
Cocktails at 6:00PM
Dinner at 6:30PM
Maggiano’s Little Italy
5333 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington, DC 20015
Please RSVP by May 1, 2016 using the following link: Banquet Fee
Admission is $65 Per Person
At this time we regret that we only have room for AΩA members, but if room becomes available for guest at a later time we will announce it.
Dress Code: Business Casual
USU AΩA Winter Newsletter
Although many of us face several more weeks of winter before we see the first signs of spring, now is the time to start planning for the future. In the Winter 2016 Newsletter, you can read about the exciting transitions underway in the Maryland Gamma Chapter of AΩA. Find out about the Spring election process, the match results for the Class of 2016, the new resident and faculty awards, the many interesting activities of our members, and much more.
You can read the Winter 2016 Newsletter by clicking here.
We hope that you will continue to contribute to future issues of this newsletter by sending in updates on your life at or post-USU. Poems and photographs are highly encouraged. Submissions may be sent to brian.andrew@usuhs.edu.
Thank you for your support!
Message from the AΩA Councilor - Winter 2016
In this issue of the newsletter, we congratulate the Class of 2016 on their residency matches, and wish them the best of luck in their ongoing training. They will be taking the next few months to decompress a bit from their arduous training over the last three and a half years. This is a well deserved period of downtime, but we all know that in our profession, training is a lifelong endeavor.
In keeping with the spirit of our profession, and in particular with the tradition of Alpha Omega Alpha, I would like to call the attention of the Class of 2016 to the wisdom of a recently deceased physician colleague (Richard C. Christenson) who called upon all physicians to keep the marginalized sick in their hearts and minds. He used these very simple words with which to approach each and every patient, every time: “I see you. I hear you”. Dr. Christenson was a community psychiatrist who devoted his career to the homeless sick in Gainesville, Florida. His words are more eloquently conveyed in the recent edition of the Pharos (Autumn, 2015). Dr. Christenson tragically died from a hit-and-run accident in Africa while participating in a Habitat for Humanity mission, reminding us of the brittle nature of life and the need to embrace each moment of every day.
Regardless of the profession each of our soon-to-be-graduates pursue, I wish that each take these words to heart for all their patients, every time: “I see you. I hear you”. If they start each encounter with these words in their mind and intentions of absolute positive regard in their heart for each and every patient encounter, I believe it will enrich their training, their care of patients, and their own development.
Accordingly, I can vouch for all USU educators that we will also be there to support our trainees in this regard. Always know that our faculty will see you, and hear you. This is the precious aspect of military medicine where the continuity of high quality training continues well beyond the walls of USU, and the care of the learner of medicine is as important as the care of the patient, especially those in harm’s way.
This is an exciting time of year for our fourth-year students, and a time to reflect on all they have accomplished, but also all they will accomplish as they continue to strive to be “worthy to serve the suffering” in their next stage of professional formation as physicians. As you encounter our fourth-years, reach out to them and acknowledge their accomplishments. See them, and hear their stories.
Patrick G. O'Malley MD, MPH, FACP
COL, MC, USA
Division Director, General Internal Medicine
Professor of Medicine
Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD
"America's Medical School"
New Functions and Nominations
Greetings friends! We've got some great new functionality on the site now, including online dues payment and donations. We have a number of new awards with a streamlined online nomination process, and we are excited to be getting ready for our spring election season. Students in the USU Class of 2017, please keep an eye on your email for an invitation with instructions on how to apply!