The students of the Ventura College Pre-Med Society and Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) will get a taste of the professional medical world at an upcoming conference.
Both clubs will attend the 19th Annual Stanford University Minority Medical Alliance (SUMMA) Conference on Saturday, Feb. 13, according to MESA Director Marcos Lupian.
“The students attending this conference will be able to take their dreams of becoming a scientist or doctor and figure out how they’ll fit in the medical field,” he said. “It’s going to be a great experience.”
According to Lupian, the SUMMA conference is one of the best on this side of the country. The Pre-Med Society and MESA are no strangers to the annual conference, but with 24 students signed up to go, this year boasts the largest amount of students ever attending from Ventura College.
The SUMMA conference is the largest minority pre-med conference on the West Coast, according to the official Stanford University School of Medicine website.
“The majority of people attending will be Latino-Americans, Mexican-Americans, African-Americans and women of different backgrounds,” said Lupian.
According to the official SUMMA website, the event typically draws between 400-600 attendees from all over California. This year’s event has been completely sold out.
The conference will provide a number of services and workshops to those attending. The many workshops listed in the conference itinerary include “Applying to Medical School,” “Successful Grant Writing,” “Making Yourself a Better Applicant” and “What Do I Want in a Medical School?”
Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the various careers in medicine and which paths they should take in order to fulfill their goals.
According to Daniel Teran, president of the Pre-Med Society, hundreds of medical and scientific professionals will also be in attendance.
“Students will have the opportunity to participate in mock interviews that will give them an idea of what to expect when it’s time to really apply for a job, which is exciting,” he said.
While the SUMMA conference is open to groups other than minorities, Lupian expresses the importance of having them represented in the medical field.
“It’s critically important for students to see minorities working in these professions,” he said. “When students see them with these kinds of careers, the message they send out is, ‘If I can make it, you can too.'”
