2009 AOA Induction Ceremony (April 1st, 2009)
The Chicago Medical School-RFUMS chapter of AOA held a ceremony for new inductees on April 1st, 2009. The ceremony honored Senior AOA inductees from the Class of 2009 and Junior AOA inductees from the class of 2010. Three residents from the CMS/RFUMS Internal Medicine and Psychiatry programs were also honored. This year’s faculty inductees were Dr. Stuart Kiken and Dr. David Garfield. The 2009 Volunteer faculty award was presented to Dr. Richard M. Ahuja. The two Alumni inductees were Dr. Theresa Kepic and Dr. Philip Dray.
2009 AOA Visiting Professor (April 1st, 2009)
The Chicago Medical School-RFUMS chapter of AOA was delighted to invite Dr. Leah Dickstein as the AOA Visiting Professor for 2009. Dr. Dickstein came to CMS- RFUMS on April 1st of this year and gave two excellent lectures, the first during medicine grand rounds on the topic of Personal Wellness, and the second during the AOA induction ceremony on the topic of Ethics and Leadership. Dr. Dickstein had the opportunity to interact with faculty, residents and students during her visit, and the AOA executive board extends their gratitude for her time. To learn more about Dr. Dickstein click here.
Psychiatrist Leah J. Dickstein is a former president of the American Medical Women's Association and vice president of the American Psychiatric Association. Her innovative Health Awareness Workshop Program, at the University of Louisville, is based on her experience attending medical school while raising a family. The popular program, which covers everything from individual well-being to personal relationships, as well as race and gender issues, has made the University of Louisville one of the nation's most family-friendly medical colleges.
In 1966, after six years working as a sixth-grade teacher in Brooklyn to support her medical student husband, Herbert Dickstein, Leah Dickstein entered medical school herself. She was one of only six women in her class, and had to balance her academic responsibilities with the demands of raising three sons. She was clear about her priorities and expectations, and chose to save Saturdays and summers for family activities, rather than graduate at the top of her class. Her husband, a pathologist, helped keep her close to her sons, even bringing them to visit her at the hospital when she was on call during her residency. She and her family made a number of practical adjustments as well. They ate off paper plates to save clean-up time, and she became an early devotee of permanent-press clothing. She jokes that one of her sons even asked her what an iron was when he found it in the closet, as supposedly he'd never seen one in use.
Her practical experience, and the skills and strategies she developed to cope with everyday challenges of being physician and mother, became the basis for an innovative Health Awareness Workshop Program she has directed since 1981. The program addresses everything from study skills and time-management to exercise and nutrition and community resources and mentoring. Many of the presentations and materials are authored by senior medical students. The message is that students must take care of their own physical and mental health before they can learn to take care of others. As director, Dr. Dickstein helps teach medical students and their partners how to cope with the demands of medical school.
Camp of Dreams is a Chicago program devoted to bringing uplifting, engaging, and free educational programs to young people who would otherwise go without. This is done through two projects: a summer camp and a school-year program. The program as a whole brings a wide range of activities to the participants: Academics, Visual and Performing Arts, Mind and Body, Health and Wellness, and Civic Engagement. In all of the activities, participants learn about accountability, about following through with themselves, their fellow participants, and their broader community.
The Chicago Medical School has been involved with the Camp of Dreams program since 2007. CMS medical students participate monthly in the school-year program by teaching sessions on a variety of important health-related issues: Nutrition and Exercise, HIV awareness, Diabetes, Drug and Alcohol abuse, and Violence.