This past weekend I represented @rwjms at the Latino Medical Student Associationβs (LMSA) Northeast Regional Conference. Last year, I couldnβt go because I wasnβt in the best place academically. But this year, Iβm in a completely different situation academically & I was so excited to finally go to my first LMSA Northeast conference! My executive board & I truly represent the greatness of my schoolβs Latino community & I am truly in awe of everything we have accomplished this past year (pictures to come eventually π). Not only were we just attending the conference, but my schoolβs chapter & I WON 3 AWARDS!!! We went from, βdoes your school even have a LMSA chapter?β To sweeping up the awards & establishing traditions and a strong Latino presence at our school, rolling deep with 11 members present. π It was amazing to network, & catch up with my friends and colleagues at other medical schools, who are also doing AMAZING things out there! π I learned so much, especially about the pathways into leadership & academic medicine, the disparities in those fields, & how crucial it is us for to be in those spaces, in order to take control of our narrative, the future, and our care. Hearing other physicians narratives, many similar to mine, was so inspiring and uplifting in so many ways, especially having just taken our Gastrointestinal systems midterm Friday morning, with no sleep or food, then rushing home to pack and then drive down to Baltimore that same evening. π΅βπ« The most meaningful moment of the Conference was running into an admissions committee member of another med school, who I have known for years, through seeing her at multiple med school fairs and networking events year after year, throughout my bazillion gap years. She was always so supportive of me & always jokingly asked me why havenβt I applied yet. I havenβt seen her since a month before the pandemic started, because there were no more in person fairs, the 20-21 cycle was virtual, & I matriculated in 2021. So when she saw me, she was so happy to see me and so proud of me, that I finally made it. She hugged me so hard & we almost cried.π A truly powerful day indeed for this nontrad Latina. β€οΈ (at Johns Hopkins Armstrong Medical Education Building) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoESOGKOnTp/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=