Brianne Camacho, OSFA’s School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) Director of Financial Aid & Financial Wellness Advising, gives her firsthand experience attending the AAMC Leading for Impact conference at the end of June.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) leads and serves the academic medicine community for the purpose of improvement. The AAMC provides an immense number of resources for medical school administrators and students alike and I had the first hand opportunity to experience “Leading for Impact” in Washington, DC! I was able to spend 4 days as a part of a cohort with 50 other emerging leaders from medical schools across the country. During my time in DC, I was able to be a part of bigger conversations with deans, medical education curriculum coordinators, and financial aid administrators about identifying areas that could help strengthen our individual campuses. We were strategically placed at tables with people that the program identified as good core relationships for us to grow because we had similar expectations for what we were wanting to get out of our time in the program.
During these conversations, I was able to form a key partnership with the Director of Core Clinical Curriculum right at UWSMPH! This was an individual I previously had not met, but we quickly were able to identify a need gap that our students had, and we are now working together on the solution to fill that gap that involves financial aid and financial wellness merging with the core clinical curriculum expectations.
Attending the Leading for Impact Leadership Development Program allowed me to exchange ideas and experiences with others and the conversation broadened my perspective. The modules that were on our agendas each day aided in the growth of my practical skills and identifying what I view as strengths of a leader. I was able to see the impact of being able to help students with their financial woes has on their ability to continue successfully through to graduation. Often, as financial aid administrators we can get caught up on the numbers but the impact we have with students go beyond that. Curriculum directors shared how a medical student shows up in clinical settings changes based on if the student is financially secure or not. They went on to express that the importance of understanding the full scope of financial aid is beneficial to them so that they can have a better knowledge of how students are showing up in spaces at different points in the academic year.
In summary, a healthy partnership between the Office of Student Financial Aid and the School of Medicine and Public Health needs to include the entire innerworkings. Collaborative relationships exist beyond the historically fostered ones and even better ones can be created when everyone has a shared vision of keeping the student first.