Student National Medical Association

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For nearly 60 years, the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) has focused on supporting underrepresented minority medical students across the United States. Through advocacy, mentorship, community and social events the SNMA chapter at University of California San Diego School of Medicine is growing and thriving.

“Going through your first year of medical school as a Black woman or a Black man is a very different thing,” said Destiny Frederick, first-year medical student and member of SNMA. “It's very different to see people who look like you, experiencing the same things as you. When I think of SNMA and what we're doing, I feel like it's a way for me to reach back and grab the people behind me from my community and say ‘hey you can come here, you can be here, you can be just like us. There are people who look like you, who will walk with you and teach you the ropes.’”

That idea of lifting others up and encouraging one another is at the heart of what the SNMA members strive to achieve. For first-year medical student Vashti Knight the sense of community formed before she even began her first class. Other student members of SNMA reached out to her before and during Second Look, an event for admitted students to visit the School of Medicine to get a better feel of the campus and ask any lingering questions before committing to attend.

“These (student) affinity organizations reached out,” said Knight. “It was my first experience, where people from the School of Medicine were reaching out to me. They were cordial. They looked like me. They cared. They introduced me to SNMA through social events and helped me get to know them. That familiarity felt good.”

The importance of community

The most recent entering class of medical students is the most diverse that School of Medicine has admitted with one-third being under-represented in medicine (Black, Latinx, Native American and Native Hawaiian). Over the last five years, the percentage of students who are Black has increased from 4 percent in 2019, to 11 percent in 2023.

“Historically we haven't always had a large number of Black students, so the organization could not take on too many activities,” said Knight. “We have about 15 of us this year, so we are making plans. I'm excited to see what we will do to help our community and help each other.”

For Dirk “DJ” Gaines, MD, faculty advisor for SNMA and associate director of diversity in medicine for the UC San Diego Internal Medicine Residency program, having someone who looked like him was really important when he was a medical student.

“Being the first physician in my family, I didn't really have anyone to turn to for advice when I was going through the process, especially during pre-med and medical school,” said Gaines. “People might think SNMA is just another organization. I don't think they realize how much of a lifeline it is for our medical students.”