IFMSA OFFICERS - WHAT DO THEY DO?

• IFMSA Executive Board:  IFMSA is ultimately governed by a five-person international Executive Board: the positions are President, Secretary-General, VP-Internal Affairs, VP-External Affairs, and Treasurer.  These positions are a major time commitment; usually these officers take a leave of absence from medical school for the entire year of their term.  Minimum requirements for the "EB" include: prior attendance at two IFMSA General Assemblies.  Also, all countries are limited to only two candidates per year for the five International Executive Board positions; the IFMSA-USA officers choose these two candidates.  Basically, it is first necessary to become extremely involved at the national and international levels first before becoming involved at this very high level.  In the fifty year history of IFMSA, exactly two Americans have become an international Executive Board member.  It is not impossible; it does require extensive previous experience.
• IFMSA Standing Committee Directors:  As you know the activities of IFMSA are divided into six Standing Committees: SCOME, SCOPE, SCOPH, SCORA, SCORE, and SCORP.  These six standing committees are governed by a national officer at the national level and an international director at the international level.  While the requirements are not as strict to become a Standing Committee Director as they are to work for the IFMSA Executive Board, extensive experience is still necessary within the Standing Committee.  It is very, very rare for a Standing Committee Director to be elected unless they have first been the National Officer of that Standing Committee at the national level.
• IFMSA Support Division Directors:  Support Divisions are groups that are designed to carry out a task that is of permanent importance to IFMSA.  There are currently three support divisions: the Projects Committee (assists the development of international and national projects), the Division of Internet Technologies (works on the international homepage and national homepages as well as developing other internet resources for IFMSA and its national member organizations), and the Division of Training and Resources Development (provides training on leadership skills for IFMSA leaders).  Each Support Division is governed by a director and then has other interested members that help the director.  Becoming the director is not as stringent as becoming a Standing Committee director or an Executive Board member; anyone with the requisite talents can be active within the Support Division.
• IFMSA Liaison Officers:  IFMSA currently maintains a Liaison Officer to each of the following groups:
• Global Health Council; IPPNW: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War;  UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund; UNICEF: United Nations Children's Fund;   WFME: World Federation of Medical Education; WHO: World Health Organization; and, most of the regional offices of the WHO.  Liaison officers represent IFMSA in its entirety to these organizations and seek potential avenues for collaboration; they are selected, not elected, by the IFMSA Executive Board every October.  To be selected, Liaison Officers must have very extensive knowledge of IFMSA and must have considerable experience in IFMSA activities.  It is also helpful if they have prior experience with the agency for which they wish to be a liaison officer.  Finally, geographic proximity is helpful for potential liaison officers (for example, it is unlikely that an IFMSA-USA student will ever be the liaison officer for CP-PWG!)  Presently, liaison relationships are also in development with many other governmental and non-governmental organizations worldwide.  If you have any experience with other major international agencies, contact us and maybe you can help IFMSA develop a liaison partnership.