AΩA

The history of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AΩA) and its founder William Root emphasizes a distinguished heritage in medicine that embodies the characteristics of truthfulness, morality, virtue, purity, and complete dedication to caring for people, improving health, and serving society. Above all it is the obligation of worthiness to practice excellent medicine with humility, self-effacement, charity, and with the objective to achieve high moral professional stature.

AΩA was founded in 1902 by medical student William Root and colleagues, at the Chicago College of Physician and Surgeons (later named the College of Medicine of the University of Illinois). Root wrote in 1909 that “it was the lack of interest in scholarly attainment among medical students that led him to begin AΩA.” He and other students noted that “honesty was conspicuously absent, and behavior in the halls and classrooms was rough and boorish.” They were very concerned that so many of their fellow students who sought to become doctors “seemed crude and chaotic. Cheating on examinations was repugnant, rough housing was distasteful.” Root conceived of the idea of AΩA to encourage among the students “personal honesty and the spirit of medical research.”

When AΩA was established, medical schools were for-profit and proprietary. Medical students were selected based on their ability to pay the tuition, and the faculty were largely interested in enrolling paying students. Department heads were chosen by who could buy a substantial block of stock.

In July 1902, Root and a group of his scientifically-minded friends met to think about the problem they viewed as inadequate preparation for becoming a medical doctor. Fellow student Ernest S. Moore (AΩA, University of Illinois, 1902) wrote, “in the summer of 1902, I was sitting on the steps of the old College building. It was almost time to start the grind when Root came out of the building and sat down beside me to tell me about a plan he had in mind to organize a medical honor fraternity (society) patterned after the lines of Phi Beta Kappa.”

Moore, convinced by Root’s ideas, provided a list of fellow students he believed thought the same way and should be invited to membership. Root presented his proposed society to these students August 25, 1902, and on September 27, 1902, 28 medical students met at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago to ratify a constitution drafted by Root and to induct the society’s first members. At that same time, Root proposed the Society’s motto, “Be Worthy to Serve the Suffering.”

Selection for membership emphasized scholarship and appropriate professional demeanor. All agreed that race, color, creed, gender, and social standing should never be barriers to membership, and stated so in an early Constitution: “Women are admitted on the same terms as men. In fact, race, color, creed, sex, and social standing form no barrier to membership, the only qualifications necessary being scholarship and character.”

In 1906, AΩA led the nation in ensuring equality in its membership by inducting its first female member.
AΩA was Chartered in the State of Illinois in 1903 with Articles of Incorporation. The founders of AΩA were able to rapidly persuade leaders at medical schools aspiring to high standards to become part of the organization and establish AΩA Chapters in their schools.

William Root was a humble man, dedicated to the care of others. When he died in April 1932, his only wish for his burial was that his headstone state that he had founded AΩA. He is interred at East Lawn Cemetery, Ithaca, NY, with his wife Anna at his side. His headstone reads simply, “Root, William W., Founder of AΩA, 1867–1932.”

AΩA has stayed true to its founding principles, especially the AΩA motto: “Be worthy to serve the suffering.” An interdisciplinary membership organization with a distinguished history of service to medicine, the profession, society, and patients, AΩA’s mission statement is as it was originally written in 1902:

Alpha Omega Alpha—dedicated to the belief that in the profession of medicine we will improve care for all 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.

 

Today, AΩA has 135 Chapters in medical schools across the country, and more than 200,000 members, including 55 Nobel Prize winners in physiology, medicine, and chemistry, and more than 75 percent of medical school deans.

In 2020, AΩA amended its Constitution to emphasize the characteristics of excellent physicianship  – trustworthiness, character, caring, knowledge, scholarship, proficiency in the doctor-patient relationship, leadership, compassion, empathy, altruism, and servant leadership.

As those who have gone before us so eloquently put it, it is our charge to “foster the scientific and philosophical features of the medical profession; look beyond self to the welfare of the profession and of the public; cultivate social mindedness, as well as an individualistic attitude toward responsibility; show respect for colleagues, especially for elders and teachers; and foster research and in all ways to ennoble the profession of medicine and advance it in the public opinion.”

AΩA Award For Excellence In Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity In Medical Education & Patient Care
Deadline: October 10, 2023
This award recognizes medical schools (and their associated AΩA Chapter) that demonstrate exemplary leadership, innovation, and engagement in fostering an inclusive culture that transforms the ideals of inclusion, diversity, and equity into successful programs that support medical student, house staff, and faculty diversity in service to the community.
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AΩA Professionalism Award
Deadline: October 17, 2023
This award recognizes and honors outstanding faculty and programs with the best practices in medical professionalism education. Up to three one-time awards of $10,000 will be given based on a national competition. This program solicits nominees with ongoing programs in medical schools and/or affiliated institutions that represent best practices in the teaching and learning of medical professionalism. 
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Administrative Recognition Award
Deadline: Ongoing
In recognition of the services provided by administrative personnel to the workings of local Chapters. Chapter Councilors may nominate a member of administrative staff for this award, which is in the form of a check .
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Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship
Deadline: January 23, 2024
To promote basic and clinical research in medical fields, social science, or health services, AΩA awards up to fifty $5,000 fellowships each year to medical students at schools with active AΩA chapters.
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Fellow In Leadership
Deadline: March 12, 2024
This award recognizes and supports the further development of outstanding leaders. Mid-career physicians who provide outstanding leadership within organizations in medicine and health care, including schools of medicine, academic health centers, community hospitals, clinics, agencies, or organizations, with a high promise for future success and contribution are eligible to apply. The applicants must be members of AΩA. Up to three awards of $25,000 to be used for further development as leaders.
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Helen H. Glaser Student Essay Award
Deadline: December 5, 2023
To encourage scholarly writing, this awards offers prizes for essays on nontechnical medical topics. Winning essays are published in The Pharos.
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Medical Student Service Leadership Project Grant
Deadline: February 20, 2024
Alpha Omega Alpha is committed to preparing future leaders in medicine and health care. Leadership is about making a positive difference and can be learned through education, observation, and experience, and working with leader mentors. Service learning may provide an excellent opportunity for students to develop as servant leaders. Each chapter may submit one proposal for a project funded for three years at $5000 for the first year, $3000 for the second, and $1000 for the third.
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The Pharos Poetry Award
Deadline: November 7, 2023
To encourage students to write effective poetry. Winning poems are published in The Pharos.
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Postgraduate Fellowship
Deadline: May 28, 2024
Support to allow residents or fellows to pursue a project in the spirit of the AΩA mission statement. Must be a research project or a scholarly project fulfilling the requirements for scholarly activity by the ACGME. Priority for scholarly projects will be given to those in the areas of leadership, professionalism, and teaching. Others may be considered based on the merits of the proposal. AΩA awards up to ten awards of $2000.
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Robert H. Moser Essay Award
Deadline: October 24, 2023
A $4,500 writing prize to honor one of the great leaders in American medicine, the late Robert H. Moser, MD (AΩA, Georgetown University, 1969). This prize will be awarded to an original, outstanding essay that celebrates the life of a physician like Dr. Moser who has enriched the world through his/her careers within, related to, and/or outside of medicine.
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Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award
Deadline: April 5, 2024
Each year, in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges, AΩA presents this award to four outstanding teachers nominated from medical schools in the United States and Canada. Past recipients of the award have developed medical education programs and materials widely adopted in medical school curricula. AΩA presents $10,000 to each award winner, $2,500 to the winner’s teaching institution, and $1,000 to the AΩA chapter of the school.
This program is administered by the AAMC. For more information, visit AAMC’s web site or contact Dr. Geoffrey Young.
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Visiting Professorship
Deadline: Ongoing
Visiting professors can both educate and stimulate students, residents, and faculty during their visits. AΩA provides the opportunity for each Chapter to host one visiting professor per year for a day of activities, including grand rounds, meetings with small groups of students, and delivery of a lecture.
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Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award
Deadline: Ongoing
Clinical faculty in community practices devote much time and effort to teaching students and residents, yet their devotion is rarely publicly recognized. This award may be presented annually to one doctor in each AΩA Chapter in recognition of his or her indispensable services.
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CHECK WITH YOUR CHAPTER COUNCILOR FOR YOUR CHAPTER DEADLINES.

AΩA Eligibility Criteria for Medical Students

Invitations to apply for induction to AΩA will be sent to eligible medical students by July or August 2023. Eligibility to apply for AΩA is based on students meeting the following criteria:

1. Top 40% of the class based on the GPA at the end of the Phase 2 NextGen Curriculum (or GPA at the end of MS3 Year for students taking a leave of absence)
2. Have not failed or remediated any preclinical course
3. Have not failed more than 1 shelf examination
4. Intent to graduate from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine with the Class of 2024 (or have graduated with the Class of 2023 but are participating in the “Accelerated Pathway to Residency Program”)

AΩA Selection Criteria for Medical Students

Selection into AΩA is based on a holistic, blinded, and rigorous review process by the AΩA selection committee, which consists of AΩA faculty members and medical student deans. Although every effort will be made to deliver notice regarding AΩA selection prior to September 2023, the timeline may be unintentionally delayed to ensure rigor in the selection process. Selection into AΩA is determined by:

1. 25% GPA at the end of the Phase 2 NextGen Curriculum (or GPA at the end of MS3 Year for students taking a leave of absence)
2. 15% Academic Achievement (includes USMLE Step 2 scores)
3. 15% Research
4. 15% Leadership
5. 15% Community Service
6. 15% Personal Statements
7. Demonstrate professionalism throughout their time in medical school

Nominations will be elicited from medical students for deserving residents, fellows, and faculty members annually. Potential candidates will be notified to submit an online application.

The Alpha Miami Chapter of the AΩA values education, scholarship, leadership, service, research, humanism, and professionalism and maintains these AΩA attributes throughout the election process.  

Resident / Fellow AΩA Selection Criteria:

Residents or fellows in University of Miami affiliated programs who have demonstrated achievement and promise in leadership and professionalism, with a special emphasis on teaching of medical students.

Faculty AΩA Selection Criteria:

Members of the University of Miami faculty who hold an earned doctoral degree (MD, PhD, or equivalent) and have demonstrated a commitment to scholarly excellence and medical education.

University of Miami Chapter

Christine T. Dinh M.D.
AΩA Chapter Councilor
Email: ctdinh@med.miami.edu
Phone: (305) 243-0496

Janay Blakely
AΩA Chapter Administrator
Email: j.blakely123@med.miami.edu
Phone: 305-243-2490

National Office
525 Middlefield Road, Suite 130
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Email: info@alphaomegaalpha.org
Phone: (650) 329-0291
Fax: (650) 329-1618