IBMS Student Organization Wins Royal Flame Award for Outstanding Large-Scale Campus Program

ATLANTA — A new student organization in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State has been awarded the Royal Flame Award for Outstanding Large-Scale Campus Program on the Atlanta Campus.

Each spring semester, student leaders and organization advisers are recognized during the annual Royal Flame Awards program. The award criteria for the Outstanding Large-Scale Campus Program include demonstrating exemplary planning, development and implementation of an original program and engagement from the campus community with more than 100 participants. The program must be sponsored by a paraprofessional student group or chartered organization.

The Aspiring African Medical Professionals (AAMP), a student group established one year ago, along with other medical- and healthcare-focused groups at Georgia State, produced the university’s Inaugural Medical Mixer March 1.

The organizations invited more than 40 medical professionals to connect with Georgia State students, and students throughout the university were able to build networks and identify shadowing and internship opportunities in clinics and hospitals across the metro Atlanta area.

AAMP was formed by Olivia Kocko and Kobichukwudi Anigbogu, both students in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, to create a space for students who identified as such to connect on the premise of aspiring to be physicians, nurses, pharmacists, researchers and other healthcare professionals.

The students of AAMP wanted to address the unique challenges faced by those of African descent in obtaining opportunities in healthcare. The organization has conducted meetings, organized volunteer experiences and created the university’s first Medical Mixer.

“I am very proud of all the activities they have been able to host in such a short time, along with the creation of an annual Medical Mixer for many GSU Panthers, particularly those of underrepresented minority status, to be connected to health professionals in the Atlanta area,” said Antoinette Bell-Kareem, a lecturer in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State. “It is truly an honor to advise them and see their success and impact on IBMS and the larger GSU student population.”