Hello and what’s up?  

Hello, this is Aaron Traeger and Jeffrey Griesemer, the IAFP student chapter leaders and Ginnie Flynn from the IAFP. Since the 'Fall Forum' has passed we wanted to get your input on how things went with the fall forum and to see if there is anything that we can do to help out with your Family Medicine Interest Group. So please respond to this e-mail and let us know the following:  

1) How is your school's Family Medicine Interest Group going? What does your group typically do throughout the year?  

2) What can the IAFP do for you or your FMIG?   

We would like to establish good communication with each of the FMIGs throughout the state. This way we can provide information on the services and events that the IAFP has planned for students and also allow for discussion and even collaboration between the various FMIGs.  

For example, once we get an idea of what happens at each school's FMIG we will relay this information too all of the FMIG leaders so that you can see what good other groups are doing. At the end of this e-mail is some information regarding services that the IAFP is already providing.  

Thanks for your time and if there is anything that we can do for you please don't hesitate to let us know.

 Aaron Traeger (atraeg1@uic.edu)
Jeffrey Griesemer (jgriesemer@lumc.edu)
Ginnie Flynn (gflynn@iafp.com)

Funding  

A reminder that all Illinois FMIGs have $1000 to spend in the upcoming year, thanks to a grant from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health for the Summer Externship Program!  

What do you need to do to access that money?  

-Send the dates of any FMIG meetings that are already scheduled for the upcoming months.  

- For schools that have 1st year students:  Schedule one FMIG meeting for MS-1s that will focus on the Summer Externship Program.  Ideally either a former Extern and/or a preceptor should be your speaker(s). IAFP can help you identify and invite speakers.  The ideal months for this meeting are December and January!!  

Each FMIG must submit an Action Plan for the 2006-07 school year ASAP to activate their access to the funds.  Thanks to all the FMIGs who have already sent action plans.  

Suggestions for FMIG meetings and how we can help:  

-Host an evening with the students who matched into Family Medicine and allow them to share about the process and why they chose their career path in family medicine  

-IAFP student leaders Aaron Traeger ( Illinois ), Jeffrey Griesemer (Loyola), and Cinthia Elkins ( Urbana ) can attend your FMIG meeting to promote IAFP events and opportunities.

-IAFP has a database of volunteer speakers who can come to FMIG meetings to discuss a variety of topics.  Please contact Ginnie Flynn (gflynn@iafp.com) with as much advanced notice if you would like one of our speakers for an upcoming meeting.  

-AAFP and STFM has provided chapters with a power point presentation and handouts on "Your Future in Family Medicine" created specifically for FMIG or other student gatherings.  

-Recent news about retail health clinics has left some medical students concerned about the future of primary care.  IAFP and AAFP have resources to help you make sense of it all!  Request handout materials for your next meeting from Ginnie Flynn at gflynn@iafp.com.  

-AFP can give your students a program on IAFP Government Relations and how advocacy plays a part in family medicine now and in their future.  

-If your FMIG selects a Tar Wars coordinator to coordinate a Tar Wars volunteer effort in your FMIG and a local poster contest, we have an additional $500 available to your FMIG for that program for your Tar Wars effort.  

FMIG Presidents:  

Loyola: Cindy Chen – cichen@lumc.edu and Anthony Mrgudich  amrgudich@lumc.edu  

Rosalind Franklin: Josephine Huang fmig@rfums.org  

Rush: Robaab Siddiqui robaab_siddiqui@rush.edu  

SIU – Carbondale: Deanna Deschler- ddeschler@siumed.edu  

SIU Springfield : MS2 co chair: Laura Petrea lpetrea@siumed.edu
MS4 Co chair: Laura Mendyk lmendyk@siumed.edu  

UIC: Aristides Sastre aasastre@uic.edu   

UI Peoria: Kathy Chang, kchang6@uic.edu  

UI Rockford: Kate Walker kawalkr1@uic.edu  

UI Urbana: Student  Advisor Cinthia Elkins deye@uiuc.edu
Co Presidents:  Julie Riewerts  and Bree Zimmerman 
Web site: http://drselkins.net/FMIG/  

U Chicago – Pritzker: Yang Shen – sheny@uchicago.edu Thanh Ha – thanh@uchicago.edu

 Northwestern: Sadiya Khan – s-khan-1@northwestern.edu