User:Mudjelly/University of Queensland Medical Society

About the UQMS

The University of Queensland Medical Society (UQMS) is a not for profit organisation that aims to serve the nearly 1700 medical students enrolled at the University of Queensland. We are a student-run incorporated society independent of the University of Queensland Union. An elected executive committee oversees the management of the Society, with crucial support from dozens of volunteer social convenors and academic representatives.

Full membership of the UQMS is open to all medical students enrolled at the University of Queensland.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to be regarded as the peak body concerning medical student education issues at the University of Queensland.

Among our long-term objectives are: To advance and promote the interests of medical students at the University of Queensland; To enrich both the social and academic environments of medical study; To promote and foster links and professional associations with student colleagues at other medical schools within Australia and overseas; and To promote the health of the community via participation in community projects and charity functions.

The UQMS works to achieve its mission and meet its goals by networking within the wider medical profession, fostering the development of partnerships with sponsors, and by raising the Society's profile in the public eye. Through our advocacy and community activities, the UQMS will ensure its members graduate from the University of Queensland with more than just a degree.

Mascot The official UQMS Mascot is Ashintosh Macopenjy, the skull that takes pride of place on our crest. The mascot can be seen at all official UQMS meetings. The UQMS motto, displayed under the skull of Ashintosh, is "domine nos dirige". This is best translated as "God help us" – entirely appropriate.

UQMS – A CHRONOLOGY The University of Queensland Medical Society was initially established in 1936 as the Queensland Medical Students Association (QMSA). Its name was changed to the University of Queensland Medical Society (UQMS) in 1943, with its terms of reference “To advance and protect in all ways the interests of graduates and undergraduates of the University of Queensland.” It was established by a concerned and vigorous group of senior medical students which included, inter alia, Russell Neville (QMSA Foundation President), Douglas Gordon (later Dean of the Faculty of Medicine), Max Hickey (later Professor of Anatomy and Warden of Union College), and Fred Schwarz. Their prescience and foresight was a first step in the establishment of the undergraduate society which was to become the most significant and professional of all undergraduate bodies within the University of Queensland, over the ensuing seven decades. Its office holders and committee members have gone on to become national and international leaders in the world of medicine; and the history of the UQMS is, in one small way, a partial history of some of the important collegiate developments of medicine in Australia more broadly. The UQMS was the trail-blazer in equity for resident medical officers. In 1944, it was a proactive stakeholder in the Queensland Industrial Court, liaising with members of the Miscellaneous Workers Union, in obtaining better working hours and rates of pay for first year resident medical officers employed by the Brisbane and South Coast Hospitals Board. Since that time the UQMS has maintained a vigorous and respected voice in the developments of conditions of service, collegiate outreach and professional standards in the profession of medicine more broadly. In 1960, the UQMS established the national Australian Medical Students Association, reaching out from Queensland to promote the Hippocratic spirit of medicine, not only at State but at national level. The UQMS has also maintained a significant charitable role in the more than six decades of its history, and it continues to provide an “in house” training infrastructure for young graduating doctors who wish not only to serve their colleagues, but to have the opportunity for self-training and extended experience in the collegiate as opposed to the individual world of medicine.

Professor John Pearn July, 2003

UQMS Structure The UQMS is managed by an Executive Committee consisting of 8 elected individuals with voting privileges. Executive members are nominated for the position by general members of the society and are elected annually in October for a one-year term. Upon completion of the term of office, the President and Treasurer remain on the Committee as the Immediate Past President (IPP) and Assistant Treasurer respectively. These roles provide the incumbent executive with an invaluable source of advice regarding the direction and management of the UQMS. Neither have voting rights on the Committee.

Members of the society may be nominated by their peers to fulfill a range of social convenor and academic representative positions. Election takes place annually at the February Ordinary General Meeting (OGM).