Unlike most days, when you donate blood you can save three lives. Not bad for the average 'observation only' med student.

Med schools across Australia are pitted against one another in a fight for life saving supremacy - join the cause. Get venesecting and record all your donations to ensure UNSW Domination!
Until August 31st.

Register today:
http://www.donateblood.com.au/View-Challenges.aspx?IDDataTreeMenu=316

Two bursaries are available, one to assist in undertaking an elective in a rural area, and one to assist in undertaking an elective in an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. Each is worth $1000.

To enter the Rural Elective Bursary, applicants must write a 1000-word essay on: "Given that the government will be spending significant amounts of money on healthcare in the coming years, what challenges do you see for rural health in the future and how would you choose to tackle these challenges?"

To enter the Indigenous Elective Bursary, applicants must write a few paragraphs on "Why are you choosing to undertake an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health placement? What aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health interest you? What do you hope to achieve from your placement both personally, professionally and for the community?"

Details can be access on the AMSA website by following the links through the Global & Rural menu. Applications for both bursaries much be received by 17:00 on Sunday 5 September. Any questions, please email

The Australian Medical Students' Association (AMSA) is the peak representative body for medical students in Australia. As a medical student and member of your medical society, you automatically become an AMSA member.

As future practitioners, we will one day hold an esteemed role in the communities we will serve. However, our profession is also a highly politicised one. AMSA's main role is to provide a voice for medical students, so that their concerns are heard by all levels of government as well as other relevant stakeholders in the medical education arena

• Forming close but independent relationships with other organisations who share our concerns.
• Engaging Federal and State health ministers and shadow ministers in discussion about the important issues faced by our members.
• Providing representation on committees, like the Australian Medical Council, who are directly responsible for medical education.
  and most importantly...
• Communicating with members to ensure their opinons are heard.

Contact: your AMSA representative (Vekram Sambavasiam). Every medical school has one, they organise the AMSA subcommittee on your campus and are a great source of information about everything to do with AMSA. Their contact details can be found on the contact page of this website.

Email: the AMSA team. Their email addresses and phone numbers can be found on the contacts page at www.amsa.org.au. AMSA wants to hear from you about issues affecting medical education and medical students in general!

Attend: the 2009 AMSA convention in Brisbane, Developing World Conference, Leadership Development Seminar and the state based Leadership development workshops to learn all the things lectures at uni will never teach you, plus a great way to meet new friends!

Donate: your blood during the AMSA blood drive - Paint the town red!