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Hello, my name is Lewis, and I am applying to be your President of Access to Medicine.
I was the only person in my sixth form to apply to medicine. I remember as a fresher, feeling as though I would never be welcome or part of the Medical School community, as I went to a state school in the North-East of England, despite my relatively privileged background. I hid my accent, my personality and my values in order to try and “fit in”. This is why I truly believe in the mission of A2M – nobody should feel they have to be anyone but their authentic self, and any structure that causes this must be opposed. I recently found out that my school no longer offers Chemistry, due to lack of interest. I want to make a positive change for the future, and I firmly believe A2M is a truly brilliant vehicle to do so.

I am well-equipped to be the President of our society as I have believed in its cause and been an active member of committee for the past year. To put my money where my mouth is, I co-organised and designed the communication half of the mock-MMI day, which received outstanding feedback from attendees. I gave feedback on all but two of the personal statements we were sent, from which the development was truly outstanding to witness – truly a testament to my belief that Widening Participation are among the most driven, hard-working students the University of Leeds would be privileged to have. As PALS1 Co-Lead, I am experienced in managing teams of equals and delegating tasks, offering help when needed and sorting problems as they appear. I am proud to have served the University of Leeds Medical School as the Deputy Representative to the BMA Medical Schools Council, where my role included advocating for our student colleagues, liaising with the University and communicating concerns and problems with them constructively – seeing them as people who can help us, and we can help them for the common good.


Accountability
Our aims and objectives as a society will be agreed upon as a committee, communicated via our Newsletter and Social Media, and allocated among the committee with frequent opportunities to feedback, discuss and make any necessary changes.

Working for the future
In my opinion, the society is a success when someone from a widening participation fulfils their dream career. This is not just entering medical school – it is important to ensure that all applicants have equal opportunities and ability to reach wherever they want to be in Medicine. Therefore, the society should be more focused on the long-term – we should aim to support people throughout the following steps:
- Entry to Medical School
o Support with the UCAT
o Personal Statement guidance
o Personal Statement feedback
o Interview tips
o Build on the hugely successful MMI Day
- Transition to Medical School
o Study tips
o Balancing being a student and being a medical student
o Coping with workload and independence
- Transition to Clinical Years
o Placement and study
o Finance
- Thinking about careers
o What kind of doctor do you want to be?
o Collaboration with academic societies
- Accessing the opportunity to participate in research and teaching.
o Alumni networking
o Access to Medicine Conference – gain experience and practice in a safe environment.
- Preparing for Foundation Training
o Changes to allocation
o Coping with uncertainty and PIA
o Hurdles and tackling them – how can you make your voice heard as a newly qualified doctor?
- Thinking about taking steps into speciality training
o Collaboration with other societies
o Updates on changes to speciality training
For the steps which affect post-graduate life, we would strive for expert and A2M alumni input in the future.
These are what we, as a society, should be aiming to provide. Not all of this will have to be events – we will build on our fantastic social media presence and newsletter to make our output as efficient as possible.

Collaboration with verification
Working with the medical school and other societies is vitally important, both societies should benefit – as should our members. I promise no event held with A2M will have any element of payment. We will advocate fearlessly for our members, and will not accept collaboration without clear proof concrete steps have been made to absolutely maximise accessibility.


Belonging
All students at Leeds have the right to feel part of the incredible, vibrant student community, regardless of their background. We will hold events for anyone who feels they are out of place, and encourage building a community where no-one is judged for their background, and that their individual personalities and excellence is celebrated. This would be done through social events, quizzes and talks from external speakers.

As the current president of this new society I want to keep pushing for the limits! In our first year we won Society of the Year and my aims is to keep pushing to make A2M not only local to Yorkshire yet National. I have aims with the GMC and future plans ahead and I would love to explore and influence more aspiring and current medics! Let's make Medicine more accessible!


I want to hear your ideas and keep growing a2m and fostering a more inclusive environment for all no matter of background!

Thank you so much!