# Alpha Omega Alpha

Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (ΑΩΑ) is an honor society in the field of medicine.
Alpha Omega Alpha currently has active chapters in 132 LCME-accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects over 4,000 new members. The majority of these individuals are chosen in their final year of medical school, though the society also inducts distinguished teachers, faculty members, residents, and alumni. Local chapters hold all elections, and the society does not hold any national elections.

## History

In 1902, William Webster Root founded ΑΩΑ with five other medical students while they were attending the College of Physicians and Surgeons (now the University of Illinois College of Medicine). ΑΩΑ was founded to recognize excellence in both scholarly achievement and professional conduct among physicians and medical students.
Root pitched his idea to nearby schools, and soon the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine and Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine had set up chapters. By 1912, there were seventeen chapters. As more medical schools became interested, the national organization became more selective in the standards a school had to meet to be eligible.
The original constitution of ΑΩΑ states that its mission is to encourage high ideals of thought and action in medical schools, promoting the highest standards of professional practice. The ΑΩΑ motto is "Be Worthy to Serve the Suffering." The duties of ΑΩΑ members include fostering the scientific and philosophical aspects of the medical profession, promoting the welfare of the profession and the public, cultivating social awareness and individual responsibility, showing respect for colleagues, promoting research, uplifting the medical profession, and advancing public opinion. It specifies that its members are to avoid any practices that are unworthy, including commercialism and any practices that may harm the welfare of patients, the public, or the profession.
Collections of the society's papers were donated to the National Library of Medicine in 1973 by John Z. Bowers and in 2000 by Gladys Brill Brampton.

## Purpose

The current constitution states that "Alpha Omega Alpha is organized exclusively for educational purposes and not for profit. Its aims shall be the promotion of scholarship and research in medical schools, the encouragement of a high standard of character and conduct among medical students and graduates, and the recognition of high attainment in medical science, practice, and related fields."
To this end, only those who are considered the top medical students are elected; however, the definition of "top" is left to the individual medical school chapters to determine.

## Symbols

Alpha Omega Alpha's motto is "To be worthy to serve the suffering". Its colors are green, gold, and white. Alpha Omega Alpha first published its medical humanities journal in January 1938, The Pharos, named after the Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

## Activities

Medical students, faculty, and active ΑΩΑ members associated with ΑΩΑ Chapters are eligible to participate in the 12 national programs and awards that ΑΩΑ confers annually, which are funded from member dues.
The Pharos, a quarterly booklet with a print run of 50,000 and online readership of 35,000, is sent to ΑΩΑ members, select medical libraries, institutions, and associations. The booklet contains articles, essays, and poetry from the community.

## Notable members

* David H. Adams – internationally recognized as a leader in the field of heart valve surgery and mitral valve repair
* James P. Bagian – NASA astronaut and physician
* William Bennett Bean – internist and medical historian
* Alfred Blalock – cardiac surgeon (Blalock–Thomas–Taussig shunt)
* Otis R. Bowen – Governor of Indiana from 1973 to 1981 and Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1985 to 1989
* T. Berry Brazelton – pediatrician and author
* Maurice Brodie – polio researcher
* Richard Carmona – 17th Surgeon General of the United States
* Ben Carson – neurosurgeon and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
* Frank A. Chervenak – Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Lenox Hill Hospital; Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Associate Dean of International Medicine, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
* Lawrence H. Cohn – cardiac surgeon, researcher, and educator
* Charles Drew – Surgeon and medical researcher
* Gerald Edelman – Nobel Laureate
* Eric M. Genden – otolaryngologist with the distinction of being the first surgeon to perform a jaw transplant in New York State, and the first jaw transplant ever to combine donor jaw with bone marrow from the patient
* Steven M. Greer – physician and ufologist
* Jeffrey Gusky – explorer and emergency physician
* Howard A. Howe – virologist, polio researcher
* Rahul M. Jindal – transplant surgeon known for setting up a renal replacement therapy program which led to the only comprehensive kidney transplant and dialysis program in Guyana
* Paul Kalanithi – neurosurgeon and writer
* David A. Karnofsky – medical oncologist known for the Karnofsky score
* Kenneth Kaushansky – MACP, hematologist, Dean of Stony Brook Medicine
* I. Michael Leitman – surgeon and medical educator, Mount Sinai
* Jerry M. Linenger – NASA astronaut and medical doctor
* Mary Ann McLaughlin – cardiologist
* Jock McKeen – physician, acupuncturist and co-founder of the Haven Institute (Gabriola Island, Canada)
* Emma Sadler Moss – pathologist
* Marshall M. Parks – "the father of pediatric ophthalmology".
* Jane Pringle - politician
* Robert Provenzano – nephrologist
* Daniel Roses – Jules Leonard Whitehill Professor of Surgery and Oncology of the New York University School of Medicine
* Jonas Salk – developer of the polio vaccine
* David Satcher – 10th Assistant Secretary for Health from 1998 to 2001 and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States from 1998 to 2002
* Harry Schachter – Canadian biochemist
* Robert A. Schwartz – dermatologist
* Michael Stuart – sports physician and orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic
* Frederick Douglass Stubbs – thoracic surgeon
* Dave Weldon – politician and physician
* Paul Alan Wetter – minimally invasive and robotic surgery pioneer, University of Miami School of Medicine
* Percy Wootton – former President of the American Medical Association

## Controversy

ΑΩΑ elections at some institutions have been influenced by internal political and racial bias. A 2017 publication in JAMA Internal Medicine found that "Black and Asian medical students were less likely than their white counterparts to be members of ΑΩΑ, which may reflect bias in selection. In turn, ΑΩΑ membership selection may affect future opportunities for minority medical students." This pattern persisted despite controlling for other variables, such as extracurricular activities.
Many American medical schools do not have student chapters of ΑΩΑ. For example, Mt. Sinai Icahn School of Medicine decided to completely forgo medical student elections to ΑΩΑ in September 2018. Additionally, there are no ΑΩΑ chapters at Harvard, Yale, or Mayo Clinic.