Medical Students Association

My name is İrem Demirci. I am a 3rd year Faculty of Medicine student at Yuksek Ihtisas University. I am also the Vice President of Internal Affairs of the Medical Students Association of Yuksek Ihtisas University. Our club was established in 2016 as the Medical Students Association of Yuksek Ihtisas University. In fact, our Association was established in order to represent the Turkish Medical Students Union in our university. The Turkish Medical Students Union is made up of more than 35 thousand students from 85 medical faculties. The main purpose of the association is to gather the students of the medical faculty together to carry out awareness and advocacy activities in various fields. We mostly use our lecture halls to have our events and meetings. When we aren’t doing that, we gather together in various parts of the school and continue our discussions and activities. All students studying in the Medical Faculty of Yuksek Ihtisas University are our passive members. In order to become active members, they have to participate in one meeting and three events. We have around 120-130 active members. We have six different task forces. These are namely: Sexual and Reproductive Health Task Force, Human Rights and Peace Task Force, Public Health Task Force, Medical Education Task Force, Research Exchange Task Force and Internship Exchange Task Force. We also have a support unit and a small working group: Project and Developments Support Unit and Communication with Children Small Working Group. In the Sexual and Reproductive Health Task Force, we are carrying out studies to explain sexually transmitted infections, to stop gender-based violence, sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination and to raise awareness about them. In the Human Rights and Peace Task Force, we are trying to put a stop to discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, language, religion, race, gender and sexual orientation by respecting differences and raising awareness about them. Our aim is also to remove borders and make peace possible for every living thing. In our Public Health Task Force, we organize studies to protect the physical and mental health of the society. In the Medical Education Task Force, we aim to be the voice of medical students. We are carrying out studies to educate and develop medical education. The Research Exchange Task Force and the Internship Exchange Task Force are two independent task forces but they offer us the opportunity to have student exchange and study abroad. If we achieve a sufficient score from the exchange exam which consists of evaluating our language proficiency and medical knowledge, we have the opportunity to do research or have an exchange abroad for one month. Our Project and Developments Support Unit conducts various projects in line with the interests of medical students. Take a Step Towards Good Health Project, Health, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Workshop, Health Tour and the Sound of Two Hands are a few of these projects. Our Communication with Children Small Working Group, is obligated to do all kinds of activities that will contribute to the health and psychosocial development of children. We organize an exchange exam, which all our medical students can take in order to benefit from opportunities abroad. In addition, since we are a large community, we host a variety of national events. Last year, we hosted an event called Research Workshop. More than ten of our professors attended this event and talked to us about what constituted as research, what are research ethics and other topics on research. The events we host change every year. As I said previously, you need to participate in one meeting and three events in order to become active members. Having said that, our association is open to all students from the faculty of medicine. Since all 85 faculties of medicine have themevlüse associations, we have the opportunity to meet and have conversations with different people on a variety of topics. This allows me to look at things from a different perspective. It has also enabled me to have good time and crisis management skills. In addition, I am now aware of the steps I should take while I am preparing a project. I know my rights and can defend them. I am also trying to be the voice of others whose rights are being violated. As the Medical Students Association of Yuksek Ihtisas University we are affiliated the with Turkish Medical Students Association. The Turkish Medical Students Association is itself affiliated with the International Medical Students Association Federation, which we call IFMSA. In this sense, I can say that we are very wide-ranging. I would like to end with the motto of the Turkish Medical Students Association: "To be more than just a medical student, be part of an association regardless of which university you are from." Good luck to all students who will take the university exam.