Happy May, MSS Friends!

My name is Saaleha Shamsi, and I am stoked to be serving as your Chair of the Medical Student Section. My involvement with OSMA started with resolution writing and review but quickly grew to focusing on medical student interests as MSS Vice Chair this past year. While my own advocacy priorities have always centered around healthcare reform and universal coverage, especially for vulnerable populations, OSMA offers so many avenues for you to engage in advocacy statewide. This cycle, we’ve had members engage in policy and advocacy efforts surrounding maternal and perinatal care, mental health, protecting patients from ICE, physician practice expansion, and so much more! I look forward to continuing to build our collective power and am so honored to be in community with you!

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Your New MSS Leadership:

Our section chair has representation at the OSMA Annual meeting House of Delegates voting on all our policy positions.

Saaleha Shamsi MSS Chair	Maya Dunson Vice Chair	Savanna King Secretary-Treasurer
Akshaykumar Ganesh AMA Alternate Delegate	Carson Hartlage OSMAPAC Student Director	Mustafa Houmsse DEIA Chair

MSS Happenings:

The 2025-2026 Policy Cycle Recap

I am so proud of how the 2025-2026 cycle concluded, and am even more grateful to join you all for another cycle this year. Of the 20 resolutions the Medical Student Section submitted, we successfully adopted 17 resolutions! This was a HUGE win for us and we are so proud of the members who make this possible. For more details regarding the policy cycle, please reference the graphic below.

Click to Enlarge >

A special shout out to the delegates and alternate delegates representing the students at each of the 7 Ohio medical schools: 

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine:
Donald Folk (Delegate), Andrew Liang (Alternate Delegate)

Northeast Ohio Medical University:
Daniel Leonard, MPH (Delegate), Matthew Price (Alternate Delegate)

Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine:
Lydia Winter (Delegate), Jack Myers (Alternate Delegate) 

The Ohio State University College of Medicine:
Maya Dunson (Delegate), Hardy Sandefur (Alternate Delegate)

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine: 
Elena Hausmann (Delegate), Mallika Desai (Alternate Delegate)

The University of Toledo College of Medicine: Cynthia Bukirwa (Delegate), Noor Farag (Alternate Delegate)

Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine: (vacant - Delegate), (vacant - Alternate Delegate)

Watch for information for your chance to get involved - Save the date for the 2027 OSMA Annual Meeting: Friday, April 2 - Sunday, April 4, 2027.

Celebrating MSS Member Accomplishments

This year we implemented the R.I.S.E. program as a way to continue to recognize our medical student members who engage in advocacy outside of the OSMA. We were so inspired by the way you all are involved in your communities and beyond! 
Learn more about R.I.S.E. >

RISE Leaders: Zarah Khushbakht Shah, Pratik Thakur, Harsimran Makkad

RISE Scholars: Willow Cox, Anusha Singh, Savanna King, Daniel Leonard

RISE Advocate: Alex You 

RISE Participant: Jonas St. Fleur

We also recognized medical students and chapters for the work they’ve been doing!

Rising Star Award: Lydia Winter and Noyonikaa Gupta 

Chapter Excellence Award: the University of Toledo

Scholars: Congratulations to our Summer Scholars! We look forward to hearing about their work in the coming months, so stay tuned for more. Best wishes to these students! 
View 2026 Summer Scholars >

Poster Presentations at OSMA Annual Meeting

We had 18 posters presented during the OSMA Annual Meeting. Special thank you to MSS delegate Jennifer Wayland, for her leadership in organizing this event, Shannon Lam and Harsimran Makkad for their efforts in coordination, as well as to all the OSMA members and staff who helped review posters and abstracts!

People’s Choice: Savanna King, MS

Best in Category - Clinical Medicine (tie): Simran Chandawarkar, BS, and Courtney Harrington, BA

Best in Category - Clinical Surgical: Thomas Shneker

Best in Category - Translational Medicine: Jonathan Bernard, BS

Best in Category - Advocacy & Public Health: Anam Dewani, BS

Best in Show: Sophie Tayade, BS

View photos on our Instagram post!

Thank you for your membership!

Yours in service,

Saaleha F. Shamsi
Chair of the OSMA Medical Student Section