Evaluating the Stanford University Minority Medical Alliance (SUMMA) Conference

The Stanford University Minority Medical Alliance (SUMMA) is a coalition of Stanford medical students committed to recruiting and retaining underrepresented medical professionals in order to better serve African American, Latino, and Native American communities. Every year, SUMMA hosts one of the largest premedical conferences on the West Coast. The conference strives to increase the numbers of students underrepresented in medicine (UIM), in order to improve access to health care for underserved communities. If the SUMMA Conference can successfully increase UIM students' confidence in their ability to successfully apply to, be accepted by, and receive adequate financial aid from medical schools, and provide them with a reliable source of information regarding the medical school application process, the conference can be deemed a useful intervention. Prior data show that UIM students in California show a much greater decline in premedical interest over the course of their undergraduate careers compared to their non-UIM counterparts. However, once UIM students take the MCAT, their rates of applying to medical schools are comparable to those of their non-UIM counterparts.

The objectives are to examine whether the SUMMA Conference is successful in: (1) reaching its UIM target audience; (2) increasing students' confidence in their ability to successfully apply to, be accepted by, and receive adequate financial aid from medical schools; (3) connecting students with a reliable source of information regarding the medical school application process. These objectives will be met through a prospective cohort study comprised of 3 surveys, administered at 3 time points (one pre- and two post-conference evaluations). Pilot data from these surveys run at the 2007 American River College (ARC) Conference show that 82% of the ARC Conference attendees are UIM students, 93% do not have access to pre-medical advising but 39% connect with an advising resource at the conference, and there is a significant improvement in students' confidence in successfully applying to medical schools following the conference. The ARC pilot data was used to design the surveys for the SUMMA conference, and results will be available for presentation. The results of the SUMMA study will be used to improve the conference in achieving its goals.