MARÍA AROCA

CANDIDATURE FOR LORMA 2012/13

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Carrer de Gomis, 49. 3-1. Barcelonadrmarie.ar@gmail.com

July 1st, 2012

Dear IFMSA members around the world:

The purpose of this letter is to introduce myself and to explain the reasons why I am

applying for Liaison Officer to Research and Medical Associations (LORMA) for the

next term (2012/2013).

My name is María Aroca, and I am a fifth year medical student from Catalonia,

however, I consider myself a world citizen. I started my medical course nearly five

years ago in the Universitat de Lleida, the oldest European faculty of medicine, which

is located a small city near the Pyrenees Mountains. Since I started my university

education, I have undergone through many life-changing experiences, most of them,

directly or indirectly related to my NMO (AECS-Catalonia) and IFMSA.

In 15 months I will be a Medical Doctor, and I am extremely glad of all the

opportunities for personal and professional development IFMSA offered to me. From

the local level to the international projects; from the local meetings to the United

Nations Conference. Everything I’ve been involved changed me and gave me a great

overview of the medical student’s view all over the world.

Since my first General Assembly, in Indonesia (March 2011), I have been exposed to

opportunities in many different topics, but always closed to exchanging programs and

climate change projects. During the past two years I have learnt a lot from the two

great LORMAs and I have seen SCOPE and SCORE growing in different regions,

having even the opportunity to live for several months with incomings in Barcelona.

Fore all these different experiences my understanding of both standing committees

has reached a high level. Therefore, I conceived a comprehensive and feasible Plan

of Action useful for all levels in SCOPE and SCORE, ranging from the student going

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abroad to the international team. Thus, the wider picture of the organization will be

presented to the professional organizations (both clinical and research ones), and will

allow IFMSA to take the best opportunities from them.

From current officers in the Team of Officials, and other friends involved in different

organizations I have learnt that youth has the power to change the world. To improve

the professions we will be working in. To be visionary.

And this power we have can be used for both: for improving our organization and our

daily job as youth medical students committed to IFMSA, but also for improving our

future career.

Putting myself forward for the position of LORMA is to give back to the IFMSA

everything I have learnt and all the experience I have gained over past years, but it

is also a new opportunity to continue learning and developing with the whole team we

have created and we are continuously creating.

In the next pages I developed my plan of action and my vision of LORMA’s

opportunities to improve our standing committees and our organization.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration and do not hesitate on contact

or approach me if any doubt or question.

Looking forward to seeing all you in India!

Yours sincerely,

María L. Aroca

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Plan of actionAfter considering it for several months, I am glad to present a comprehensive and ambitious Plan of Action for the term 2012/13 which is divided in four parts,

following the EB requirements.Due to the number of words limitation introduced this year, I decided only to specify the objectives that are not detailed in the bylaws. These four categories are the main objectives I will work in, in addition to all duties stated in the constitution bylaws.

- Main objectives related to the LORMA position are:

- Reviewing academic quality concept as a whole, taking into consideration all points of view. In the past terms SCORE started also implementing the

academic quality concept, which has been running for a long period now in SCOPE. To succeed doing so, I find essential collaboration between:

* Students going abroad and NMO needs will be represented by NEOs

statements.* SCOPE-d and SCORE-d would play two important roles: on one hand

they must facilitate the discussion and translate the needs of both international teams to the discussion.

* LORMA plays a crucial role as a link to medical and research

organizations, because an important part of current academic quality concept relies on external organizations; but also because their

perspective is a valuable input and because to improve academic quality it is an essential part to make scientific community creating expectations

about our outgoings.

- Getting official recognition for our certificates: medical organizations and

IFMSA can work together to create a certificate with an standard meaning worldwide and validated by the main professional organizations working in

the area. Some of the organizations past LORMAs have been working with already like the idea and will support us to create the necessary network for

implementation.

- Building strong relations with new organizations, prioritizing research

organizations and young doctor organizations. We have an extensive

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experience working with medical organization and the time to connect with

key research and young professionals organizations has arrived.

- Ethical and green exchanges declaration: going abroad is not only a CV

and a global health opportunity, but also offers a personal development chance that needs preparation and a strong ethical perspective. I see in the

LORMA position the perfect facilitator to create an ethical exchange declaration/policy statement, as well as the way to implement it as a

meaningful tool for the student going abroad and the contact person working

in the ground.

- Main objectives as a LORMA I will fulfill to improve IFMSA:

- Improve the quality of meetings bringing externals: past experiences with experts in General Assemblies and Regional Meetings were great

succeeds, but it can be extended to other meetings, such as sub regional trainings or national meetings. These experts can not only be speakers, but

also chairs of our discussions, bringing a different perspective.

- Improve the quality of SCOREview and PeriSCOPE publications (or its

equivalent in next term) including interviews and articles from different experts willing to share their motivation to work with young people, their past

experiences with us and the needs they see in the profession.

- Increase the number of spots IFMSA gets for its members in professional conferences and meetings (both at national and international levels), as well

as trying to get other type of support to make it accessible to all the

members. These can be done in different ways, such as collaborating as human resources as some NMOs did in the past, but also getting grants for

presenting research proposals, papers, etc.

- Apply the mission statement to the standing committees by increasing the

importance of global health in the exchange experience and creating an

eminent practical and comprehensive package for global health

understanding, useful for the exchanger and validated by experts in global

health and its applications to each field.

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- Main objectives as a LORMA I will fulfill for NMOs:

- Facilitate the relationship between NMOs, IFMSA regions and medical

and research organizations, specially at the local level. Most of the

professional organizations have similarities to IFMSA structure in terms of

national organizations and regional branches. This type of structure makes

easy for the LORMA to put in contact regional branches and national

organizations with our NMO representers and facilitate the communication of

needs.

- Open new projects with research and medical organizations, such as

internships for NMO members: several organizations promote research and

education projects, and it is feasible to use the same approach for creating

internship opportunities as we other Liaison Officers have done in the past

(for instance LWHO).

- Involve NMOs in the decision making process when approaching new

organizations for what I plan to launch a survey which will create a

communication space where members involved at different levels will share

their needs, visions and examples of organizations. This type of approach

should simplify the strategic plan of approaching professional organizations

(hundreds of them can be found and we need to set a criteria to approach

them). Approaching organizations only makes sense when we follow a

integrating strategic plans that meets the different meets different NMOs and

different levels may have.

- Main objectives in a long term context are:

- Working together with the LWHO to create a common approach to the WHO

and a transition to a possible new model of communication with the

institution.

- Working in the team of officials to develop the necessary network for

implementing the long term strategic plan.

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CURRICULUM VITAE

María L. Aroca Ruiz

Passport number: BD006637 (issued in Spain, EU)

Address: C/Gomis, 49. 3-1. Barcelona.

e-mail: drmarie.ar@gmail.com

Telephone number: (+34)609660943

Date and place of birth: 17/05/1988 (Madrid, Spain)

Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s degree in health sciences from the institute IES Ramiro de Maeztu in

2006 (Madrid, Spain).

- Degree of Medicine at the Universitat de Lleida (Catalonia, Spain), currently

studying the 5th year out of 6.

- Erasmus Exchange program in Warsaw University of Medicine (year 2011/12).

- Degree of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Universidad Nacional de

Educación a distancia (currently studying the 1st year out of 4).

- First aid title obtained in 2004 by Spanish Red Cross Red Crescent.

- Languages:

* Mother tongue: Spanish.

* Fluent: English (PCE in 2002, C2 in the European Language level) and

Catalan.

* Intermediate level of French (B1 in the European Language level).

* Low level of Korean (A1 in the European Language Level)

* Oral and written understanding of Portuguese

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- Informatics: computer literate (efficient managment of core programs - word

processor, spreadsheet, slide creation, database design, web development- with

operating systems Mac, Windows and Linux).

- General knowledge: food hander card obtained in 2006.

- IFMSA official trainer in non formal education since December 2010 (TNT

Barcelona 2010).

- Member of the Neurology Student Circle of the Medical University of Warsaw from

September 2011 to February 2012.

- Parkinson’s Disease Summer School (July 2012)

Medical Internships:

- Internship in General Surgery department (Arnau de Vilanova, Lleida. November

2010).

- SCOPE Exchange in Neurosurgery department (Hong Kong, July 2011).

- Internship in the Clinical Pharmacology department (Research Biomedical Parc of

Barcelona, June 2012- July 2012).

Research experience:

- IFMSA SCORE Exchange (July 2008) in the Universidad Federal do Pará (Brazil)

at the department of inborn errors of metabolism

- Assistant at genetics department of Universidad de Lleida since September 2008

untill September 2010.

- IFMSA SCORE exchange (July 2010) in the Université de Sherbrooke (Canadá-

Quebec) at the department of Thoracic Surgery.

Relevant experience in NGOs and volunteering:

- President of the organizing committee of AECS National General Assembly

(Lleida, April 2009).

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- Local Exchange Officer of Lleida (one of the local committees of AECS-Catalonia)

during the term 2009/2010.

- Organization of the First Conference of Early detection of eating disorders at

the University of Lleida (December 2009).

- National Exchange Officer of AECS-Catalonia (term 2010/11). Collaboration with

SCOPE (Standing Committee on Professional Exchanges) at the international level,

including article-editing for the PeriSCOPE (Standing Committee’s publication)

and facilitation of the Global Health and Exchanges Working Group,

- Part of the organizing committee of the EuRegMe-Tarragona 2011 (responsible

for material and logistics of the conference, and part of the fundraising team).

- External representation and grants division of the IFMSA Think Global Initiative

Project (June 2011 to November 2011).

- European coordinator of the IFMSA Think Global Initiative Project (term

2011/12).

- Secretary of the Health Inequities Working Group in IFMSA (from September

2011 to December 2011).

- Co-editor of the PeriSCOPE - SCOPE official publication (term 2011/2012).

Meetings attended:

- All National General Assemblies of AECS Catalonia since April 2008.

- IFMSA Sub Regional Trainings attended as a general delegate: Litohor (Czech

Republic, 2009) and Barcelona (Catalonia- Spain, 2010).

- IFMSA-The Netherlands Training Weekend (December 2010).

- Training New Trainers Barcelona (December 2010).

- IFMSA General Assemblies as a General delegate Jakarta (March 2011) and

Copenhagen (August 2011)

- EuRegMe-Tarragona (April 2011) as a trainer and part of the OC.

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- Sub Regional Training attended as a trainer: Budapest (Hungary, April 2011) and

Istanbul (Turkey, May 2011). In both, I facilitated the Global Health Working Groups.

- IV Geneva Conference on Person Centered Medicine (May 2011)

- 64th Annual United Nations Department of Public Information- Non Governmental

Organisations Conference (UN DPI/NGO): “Sustainable Societies, Responsive

Citizens”. Bonn (September 2011).

- XXth World Congress of Neurology (Marrakech, November 2011).

- Health Promotion Forum of the Alliance for Health Promotion (Geneva, November

2011).

- COY7 (Conference of Youth) and COP17 (Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC),

as part of the IFMSA official delegation, (Durban, December 2011).

- IFMSA pre-AfricanRegionalMeeting (Nairobi, Kenya 2011): as a co-facilitator of

the “Think Global Workshop” about global health in the medical curricula.

- IFMSA AfricanRegionalMeeting (Nairobi, Kenya 2011, currently attending) as a

co-facilitator of the SCORA sessions (reproductive health).

- IFMSA General Assembly March Meeting 2012 (Accra, Ghana) as NMO

management support person and trainer.

- Medsin-UK Global Health Conference (April 2012).

Other interests:

- Martial arts (brown belt in Karate-do and Black belt-first degree in Kuk Sool Won).

- Amateur writer.

- Collaboration with different NGOs at local level: Green Peace Madrid, Igualdad

animal Madrid and WWF Lleida.

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