Global Surgical Innovation
Annual National Conference 2023

On April 1st, Michigan Global Surgery Student Alliance hosted the Annual Global Surgery Conference centered around the theme of surgical innovation. From the Big House to the conference opening by UM President Ono to the black tie gala, our GSSA students orchestrated an unforgettable weekend for 72 universities, connecting over 500 student leaders! Check out the following link below to learn more about the event.

Click here to download the 2023 National GSSA Annual Report, and read about the conference on Page 11!

Global Health Equity Challenge 2024

At the the University of Michigan Student Organization Global Health Equity Challenge, six of our GSSA members [Jina Patel, Angelina Hamati, Venkatesh Alagappan, Jaffy Jeevaraj, Sophia Fisher, and Aanchal Jain] recently presented their project titled “Evaluating Current Practices of Patient Education of Cesarean Section Wound Care in Ethiopia" infront of an audience of judges, achieving an outstanding second-place finish in the competition. This placement in the pitch competition provided an award of $3,000 going towards our chapter's fund, along with priceless experiences in interdisciplinary collaboration and problem-solving for those involved.

2024 End-of-Year Research Symposium

On April 21, GSSA held its End-Of-Year Research Symposium, providing members with the opportunity to present their own research in front of an audience, as well as engage with the projects of their peers. During the event, our organization had the pleasure of being joined by three wonderful Michigan Medicine guest speakers: Dr. Karin Muraszko, Dr. Joseph Kolars and Dr. Robin Petroze. Symposia like these provide students with the opportunity to practice their presentational skills, while learning about ongoing projects and discoveries in the world of medicine. Some research topics presented at the event included the following: Alveolar Neutrophilia, ECMO Chest Tube Complications, Ex-Vivo Heart Perfusion, Medulloblastoma Cell Lines, Cuprizone-induced Demyelinating Disease, the Efficacy of Medical Arabic, and more!

Michigan Medicine Workshops and Seminars

With the help of our club advisor and due to GSSA's continous involvement with Michigan Medicine, our members have had the opportunity to participate in numerous events hosted by both the Medical School, as well as the Department of Surgery at Michigan Medicine. Some of this year's events attended by our members and shown to the right include: the 2024 Diversity in Medicine Conference held at Palmer Commons, the 2024 Youth Summit at the Big House, and the 2023 MM Orthopaedic Surgery Workshop.

Partnership with ALL-SAFE

ALL-SAFE (short for African Laparascopic Learners for Safe Advancement for Ectopic Pregnancy) is a non-profit organization led by Michigan Medicine's Dr. Grace Kim that encompasses surgical modules responsible for teaching surgeons in LMICs to perform laparascopic surgery without physical teachers or professional equipment. The ALL-SAFE/GSSA partnership has provided members with the chance to assist in ALL-SAFE's agenda, and provide volunteer work to advance their mission. For example, students this year have worked on creating laparascopic surgery sets in the Medical School, transforming surgical modules into documents accessible by the United Nations Global Surgery Learning Hub (SurgHub), volunteering with the ALL-SAFE team at the 2024 Youth Summit, and collecting used laboratory materials for donation.

Community Service in- and outside of Ann Arbor

In the past year, GSSA's Outreach Committee was responsible for providing a series of volunteer opportunities for members both in- and outside of the university campus. Some of these opportunities ranged from volunteering with other pre-med student organizations (Blueprints for Pangea, Wolverine Support Network, RAPS), Ann Arbor Schools, homeless shelters (Delonis), community organizations in Detroit (Bountiful Pantries, Boys and Girls Club), and hospitals in the metro-Detroit area (Children's Hospital of Michigan). Because of our commitment to volunteering and making an impact in our local community, GSSA is proud to have received the Community Engagement Award at the School of Public Health Honors Ceremony in April of 2024.

Global Colorectal Surgery Education Initiative

The Global Colorectal Surgery Education Initiative is a non-profit organization with a mission to revolutionize colorectal healthcare in Ghana and other LMICs by bridging the gap in specialized surgical expertise. This initiative has been founded by GSSA's previous club advisor and Michigan Medicine colorectal surgeon Dr. Gifty Kwakye. Over the summer, our Marketing Committee has worked on the initiative's website development, incorporating elements like the non-profit's projects, goals, research publications, and a number of testimonials from Ghanian resident doctors in training. The website is scheduled to go live during the 2024 Fall semester, and will provide GSSA members with the opportunity to post non-PA reviewed publications under its Blog Section.

Make sure to check out GSSA's posts once the website goes live and the button below is activated!

Think Global, Act Local Day (TGAL)

What does it mean to think global, but act local? With this 3-day initiative, Michigan GSSA was able to collaborate with a variety of other pre-health organizations on campus (CURIS, Alpha Tau Pi, ALCSI, Global Health Alliance, and ALL-SAFE) to organize a week of service and donation events to help support making surgical care more accessible across the African continent. Along with a series of virtual and in-person donation hustles organized throughout the week, our TGAL initiative concluded in a Day of Service held on January 12th, where members from the above organizations had the opportunity to rotate around different stations, participating in the following activities: crafting cards and blankets to be delivered to patients at Michigan Medicine, assisting in appendix model-making with the medical school organization ALL-SAFE, and painting white ribbons in support of lung cancer awareness.

The total amount of $500 USD accumulated through our donation efforts will be directly supporting the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), an international organization focused on combatting the lack of surgical care in several countries within Africa through education and training.

If interested in learning more about the mission and work done by PAACS, or the appendicitis surgical model developed by ALL-SAFE, we recommend checking out the following links below!