Student National Medical Association (SNMA)
Established in 1964, the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is committed to supporting current and future underrepresented minority medical students, addressing the needs of underserved communities, and increasing the number of clinically excellent, culturally competent and socially conscious physicians. Visit www.snma.org for more information.
Student National Medical Association Johns Hopkins University Chapter
Johns Hopkins’ chapter of the Student National Medical Association works closely with the Office for Medical Student Diversity. We have mutual goals of: (1) supporting underrepresented minorities in biomedical research and medicine; (2) increasing the number of physicians, scientists, and researchers who are African American/Black or from other racial and ethnic underrepresented groups; and (3) eliminating health disparities.
Hopkins' SNMA programs include, but are not limited to, social and networking events with medical students, house staff and faculty, career advising sessions, sexual health education for local middle school students, and mentoring and health professions workshops for local high school students and Hopkins' undergraduate students in the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students (MAPS). See more details about our community service work below. Additionally, we are heavily involved in the recruitment of underrepresented minority students to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In collaboration with the Office of Admissions, we host dinners on interview days, help to organize Second Look Weekend, and maintain ongoing communication with accepted and prospective students.
We encourage you to join SNMA to be part of a family that leans on each other for support, celebrates milestones, and helps address health disparities. For more information, follow us on Instagram (@jhu_snma), email us at [email protected].
Our Projects
Community service is the heart and soul of the SNMA and eliminating disparities in health care delivery, disease morbidity, and disease mortality are among our highest priorities.
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Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program (HPREP) is a program organized by the Johns Hopkins Chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA).
HPREP exposes underrepresented minority high school students to science-related activities and introduces them to careers in the health professions. Students in this program receive talks from Hopkins physicians, hands-on clinical experience, mentorship and guidance on college essay preparations, and SAT workshops. The SNMA HPREP coordinators organize recruitment of speakers and volunteers from the School of Medicine. The program consists of ninth grade students who are affiliated with Baltimore’s MERIT Health Leadership Academy. Outside of HPREP, we work with MERIT Health Leadership Academy to expose their tenth- and eleventh-grade students to medicine.
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The Brotherhood Alliance for Science and Education (BASE) is a mentorship program devoted to increasing the number of underrepresented minority males advancing through grade school. The BASE program is guided by a threefold vision. First, the BASE program attempts to provide the young men and their parents a snapshot of higher education, professional development, and health careers, and affirm them all as attainable and worthwhile goals. Second, BASE is driven to develop and cultivate personal relationships among members of the pipeline, those beyond, and the mentors that serve them, in order to provide a source of guidance and support at each level. Third, the BASE program intends to instill the importance of community service and empowerment in both our mentors and mentees. Ultimately, the program attempts to increase the number of underrepresented minority males in higher education and foster a sense of community empowerment through service.
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According to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, since 1997, the African American teen birth rate of Baltimore City has consistently been approximately twice that of Maryland on average. Yet despite the high teen pregnancy rate, the Baltimore City Public School System has no funding for sexual education before high school. Community Adolescent Sexuality Education (CASE) is a program developed by the Hopkins chapter of the Student National Medical Association to address this disparity, as part of our mission to advocate for social justice and eliminate health care disparities.
The CASE Sexual Health Awareness program is designed to educate Baltimore middle schoolers about their bodies and about the positive use and expression of sexuality. It is intended to increase self-esteem, improve relationships, and decrease the incidence of teen pregnancy and the spread of STDs. Volunteer instructors for the CASE program come from the various graduate schools at Hopkins, including the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health. Program sessions are held during school hours.
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The Cut HTN initiative was developed to increase hypertension awareness and management within the Baltimore City Community. Hypertension has been labeled the “silent killer” because it can often present with little or no symptoms. This issue is compounded by the fact that low-income Baltimore City residents face greater than average challenges accessing preventative care services on a regular basis. Our mission is to decrease the amount of residents with undiagnosed or poorly managed hypertension by performing regular screenings in convenient locations, such as in local housing developments. Volunteers are trained and supervised by Hopkins physicians on how to take blood pressure measurements and appropriately council residents with elevated blood pressure.
For more information please email [email protected].