August 4, 2016 | Lauren Woods - Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine

UConn School of Medicine joins AΩA

UConn School of Medicine has been selected to become the 130th chapter of the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AΩA).

AOA

Medical students at UConn School of Medicine, here performing advanced training in the high-tech simulation lab, will have the ability to now be elected members of the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo).

UConn School of Medicine is the home of the newly established Beta Connecticut chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AΩA). As the 130th active chapter, UConn joins medical schools throughout the United States who recognize and promote the highest ideals of medicine.

AΩA’s Board of Directors voted to add the AΩA Beta chapter at UConn. This is only the second chapter to be established in the state since Yale School of Medicine’s Alpha chapter was founded in 1920.

“We are honored at UConn School of Medicine to be selected as the Beta Chapter of the historic Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society,” said Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of UConn School of Medicine. “We look forward to our medical students becoming active members of such a prestigious society with a long legacy of promoting excellence and scholarship in our profession of medicine.”

As an active AΩA chapter, UConn School of Medicine can nominate the top 25 percent of its medical school class to become members of the professional medical organization within their senior year. Of that 25 percent, up to 16 percent of the total medical school class may be elected into the society. New members will be selected for their demonstration of continued scholarship, high professionalism, servant leadership, gifted teaching and service to the community.

The chapter may also elect distinguished faculty and alumni from UConn’s medical school, and elect residents and fellows.

Alpha Omega Alpha was founded in 1902 by a small group of medical students led by William Webster Root at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago. Its premier membership has included 57 Nobel Laureates, 11 Surgeons General of the United States and nearly seventy-five percent of deans of U.S. medical schools.

The mission of AΩA is dedicated to the belief that the profession of medicine will improve care for all patients by recognizing high educational achievement, honoring gifted teaching, encouraging the development of leaders in academia and the community, supporting the ideals of humanism and promoting service to others.

Since its founding, AΩA has elected more than 175,000 members worldwide.