A Yale School of Medicine student has been elected to represent the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada in the Psychiatry Student Interest Group Network (PsychSIGN).
Frances Grace Javier, an MD candidate with the Class of 2018, was elected Chair of Region 1, comprised of the six New England states and five eastern Canadian provinces.
The election was held May 20 at the PsychSIGN 12th annual National Conference in San Diego, Calif. The conference coincided with the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.
“I am very excited and optimistic about this position,” Javier said in a statement. “I am committed to promoting medical student and physician mental health.”
I am very excited and optimistic about this position. I am committed to promoting medical student and physician mental health.
Frances Grace Javier, MD candidate, Class of 2018, Yale School of Medicine
As Regional Chair, Javier will manage student membership in the region and host a regional conference in the fall. She will also help to organize the annual spring conference.
Leaders of PsychSIGN hold monthly video conference meetings to discuss logistics and student involvement. Javier said her goal is to further increase student engagement and empower medical students to address issues they face as a community, beyond their medical school and clerkship years.
According to its mission, PsychSIGN works to “foster the involvement, organization, and implementation of student psychiatry interest groups at individual medical schools throughout North America. The group functions as a central hub for the exchange of ideas, information, and resources for student coalitions in psychiatry. It also promotes the discourse for psychiatric education in the medical school community and for advocacy and justice in mental health as an integral part of health overall.”