Medical Student Receives AMA Foundation Award

Colleen Kays received 2013 AMA Foundation Leadership Award

Colleen Kays, a medical student at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, has been named a recipient of the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation’s 2013 Leadership Award.

The award recognizes 20 young professionals – medical students, residents/fellows, and early career physicians – for outstanding non-clinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service and education. This award provides recipients with special training to develop their skills as future leaders in organized medicine and community affairs.

Kays is a fourth year medical student interested in medical education and in working with underserved populations. She served for two years as a national delegate on the administrative board of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Organization of Student Representatives, during which time she participated in working groups looking at the use of social media and other technologies in medical education.

In her final year of medical school, Kays has focused her time developing a community outreach program that partners pre-clinical medical students with pregnant adolescents. While she has loved her work at school and with the AAMC, she is most happy when she is at Camp Winona, where she's volunteered since 2006 as a summer camp counselor for the Florida Camp for Children and Youth with Diabetes.

Kays is currently applying for a residency position in pediatrics.