Join the PsychSIGN National Board!

Thank you for your interest in joining the PsychSIGN National Board! It is a great opportunity to connect with fellow classmates and physicians alike all geared toward helping medical students to be prepared for a career in psychiatry.

Click here to apply for a Region Chair position.

To be eligible to be a member of the national board, candidates need to be enrolled full-time in medical school over the next academic year. Despite the name “National Board”, internationally students are encouraged to apply.

Region Chair applications are open. After they close, Special Interest Chair applications will open up. Candidates can apply for multiple positions.

To learn more about the organization of PsychSIGN, check out our Constitution.

Responsibilities

All members of the national board are expected to fulfill the following requirements:

  • Be a voting member and participate in national board meetings
  • Participate in monthly leadership meetings
    • Chairs may not miss more than two monthly meetings (barring extenuating circumstances). Failure to meet this requirement may result in disciplinary action up to and including possible removal from office at the discretion of the President and President-Elect. Chairs who are not removed from office may forfeit any or all privileges associated with office, including any travel opportunities.
  • Under the leadership of the President and President-Elect, the National Board is responsible for the PsychSIGN annual meeting planning and execution.
  • The entire National Board will meet once a month at a previously agreed upon date and time for the duration of that year’s term. Agenda and points of discussion will be set by the President and President-Elect as per the requests by the general membership and national officers.

Region Chairs

Applications for Region Chair positions are open from April 2 – April 15. Click here to apply.

Region Chair Asynchronous Elections will be from April 16 – April 30.

There are 8 Region Chairs, each covering different geographic regions as divided below:

  • Region 1: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.
  • Region 2: New York
  • Region 3: District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
  • Region 4: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
  • Region 5: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, and Uniformed Services
  • Region 6: California
  • Region 7: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan
  • Region 8: Covering international medical students outside of the US and Canada

A region chair can only represent the region from where their medical school is geographically based.

In addition to the duties of being on the national board, the region chairs have the listed responsibilities:

  • Maintain a reciprocal relationship with the respective PsychSIG leaders including sharing PsychSIGN events, news, and opportunities with PsychSIG leaders.
  • Host one virtual leadership meeting of regional PsychSIG leaders OR create an informal communication channel to allow direct correspondence with SIG leaders and/or membership.
  • These meetings and/or group chats will be used to discuss PsychSIGN news, allow SIG leaders to give updates on their recent and upcoming events, as well as assisting in the unification and overall camaraderie of PsychSIGN and regional SIGs.
  • Maintain rosters of affiliated PsychSIG chapters, member lists, and % membership in PsychSIGN. 
  • Maintain a reciprocal relationship with the respective APA State Association Liaison or APA State/Region membership. including sharing PsychSIGN events, news, and opportunities with the State Liaison.
  • Create a minimum of 4 virtual or in-person events for region or national membership
  • Organize a PsychSIGN Regional Conference or Project tailored to their specific region, but open to all PsychSIGN members as well as other medical students.
  • All Chairs may hold a virtual conference/event in lieu of an in person Regional conference. 
  • Participate with other National Officers to organize and carry out the PsychSIGN National Conference each year.

Special Interest Chairs

Applications for Special Interest Chairs will be open from May 1 – May 15. A link for these applications will be provided later.

Special Interest Chairs are selected by the incoming presidency, and will be decided on by May 22.

In addition to the duties of being on the national board, the Special Interest Chairs have the corresponding responsibilities:

Mentorship Chair

  • Lead the development and management of mentoring opportunities for PsychSIGN members.
  • Maintain a roster of psychiatrists, fellows, residents, and medical students interested in serving as Career, Research, or Peer Mentors.
  • Develop and share PsychSIGN specific materials on methods of successful mentorship to be available to PsychSIGN general members.
  • Correspond with APA/APAF staff to facilitate mentor/mentee programming.

Research Chair

  • Direct medical students to resources that can help them to begin, excel, and share research.
  • Work with organizations (such as, but not limited to the APA, AACAP, AMA) to know what research skills students are lacking and find ways to help students to improve those skills
  • Work with the Mentorship chair to improve the opportunities that may come from relationships with research-focused mentors.

Residency Application Chair

  • Develop PsychSIGN specific materials on methods of career and application development to be available to PsychSIGN general members, such as, but not limited to: personal statement, CV preparation, and interview preparation.
  • Create and maintain forums on the pre-, intra-, and post-match process for PsychSIGN members.
  • Develop a system for applying members to have practice interviews before the interview season.
  • Create and facilitate programming, panels and other educational materials for PsychSIGN members regarding the residency application process.

Wellness and Burnout Prevention Chair

  • Maintain and update the PsychSIGN Wellness Manual yearly.
  • Work with other associations and trainees on the development for further initiatives, including an Institutional Wellness Manual.
  • Develop PsychSIGN specific materials on methods of wellness and burnout prevention to be available to PsychSIGN general members.

Political Advocacy Chair

  • Provide PsychSIGN representation to the AMA Medical Student Section as guided by the Board.
  • Fulfill the duties as specified by the AMA Medical Student Section for MSS Assembly Members.
  • Be responsible for reviewing AMA criteria for PsychSIGN representation, the application of PsychSIGN for representation, and recommending change such that PsychSIGN will continue to meet such criteria.
  • Develop and carry out initiatives such as programming, messaging campaigns to encourage and empower PsychSIGN members to be more politically active.
  • *Candidates must have attended at least 1 prior AMA-MSS Assembly meeting in the past*

Marketing Chairs

The selection process for the Marketing Chairs is the same as for the Special Interest Chairs.

There will be two marketing chairs who will work with the president and president-elect in assisting all the region chairs and the special interest chairs in the following ways:

  • Accurate, timely representation of PsychSIGN news, opportunities, and events on PsychSIGN’s active social media platforms.
  • The overall design and maintenance of the PsychSIGN website, which currently requires comfortability working with WordPress.
  • Ensure that resources that are helpful for PsychSIGN members are easily accessible via either the website, YouTube, or other means.
  • Publish a monthly membership newsletter sharing news, opportunities, and programming with the general PsychSIGN membership.
  • Assist in the development of graphics, flyers, and templates to promote PsychSIGN news, opportunities, and events at the request of other members of the board.
  • Assist the following long-term marketing subcommittees with their projects:
    • GetPsyched: A PsychSIGN Podcast
    • PsychSIGN Magazine
    • PsychSIGN Blog