Photo credit: Grace Doakes
The MAPS Board of Directors hosts events for members throughout the quarter. The club aims to create a supportive environment for pre-medical minority students.
When Weinberg senior Grace Doakes arrived at Northwestern in 2019, she found few other minority premed students.
After that, she joined the minority association of non-medical students.
Doakes, now MAPS president, says medical school courses can be academically and mentally demanding, and some students often feel lonely in the process.
But MAPS aims to create a safe and helpful environment that encourages students to continue learning, she said. Ethnic representation in healthcare workers is key to helping patients, she added, and that’s what the club truly strives for, Ms. Doakes said.
Founded in 1989 in NU and with 250 chapters nationwide, MAPS is the pre-medical branch of the Student National Medical Association that supports underrepresented minorities in medical school. The NU chapter has about 300 members. According to Doakes.
Doakes with MAPS Vice President Brandon Ozobu You will find that supporting upperclassmen is a highlight of the club.
“When I was a freshman, I went in because I was nervous and afraid of failing,” said Ozobu, a junior at Weinberg. “But I think the MAPS seniors had the foresight and knowledge to calm me down, slow me down, and make me realize that everything would be fine.”
Doakes said the club helped her get started in her studies, and students also get small-scale support, such as shared learning tools.
In addition to collaborating with the Feinberg SNMA chapter, MAPS organizes quarterly charitable and social events.
Members of the club visited Chicago’s Feinberg School of Medicine earlier this month to discuss applying to medical school. They also anonymously asked the dean of admissions what the Okura department called “monumental”.
“People also remember when you were in that place, so it can motivate you to keep going,” Doakes said. People where you were before can see you as motivation.”
For some members, social events are not only a place of academic expertise, but also a source of community.
Zoey Hall, Sophomore at Weinberg and MAPS Social Chair, said she enjoys having a fun and social group at Premed.
According to Ozobu, the club is advised by Vice Dean Weinberg Constance Wright, the organization’s “cheerleader.”
In an email to The Daily, Wright wrote that it was an “honor and privilege” to work with MAPS and that the organization’s students would “transform” medicine.
Given the racial diversity in the United States, having a representative medical professional is important to Wright
Although there are organizational barriers for medical professionals, MAPs and similar organizations are key to helping underrepresented students get into medical school, she said.
Hall says the club has provided opportunities for her and other minority students to create a community that supports her in striving for her goals.
“I don’t see expressions like yours when I go to the doctor…they don’t know what I’m going through,” Hall said. It’s like the ‘Oh, I can do it’ motivation.”
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