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MUSC students attend leadership symposium  Two students from MUSC were among 30 medical students chosen to attend the Paul Ambrose Health Promotion Student Leadership Symposium (PAHPSLS) sponsored by the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.  Anne Morrison and Andrew Kaufman convened in Washington, D.C. on June 28-29, for the symposium which featured skills-based leadership training and education in a variety of prevention-related content areas with the goal of creating healthier communities by engaging medical student leaders in building new visions and models for medical education. Former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., spoke about leadership in public health.  Sessions addressed population-based health care, Healthy People 2010 and the Leading Health Indicators, planning and conducting needs assessments, project planning, health care financing, health policy, media and student advocacy, community organizing and coalition building, and public speaking. Students were also informed about public health medical student electives, residency training, and careers in preventive medicine “It was most exciting to work with such a bright, energetic group of students all of whom shared a common interest in bringing prevention to a more central position in the curricula of medical schools. I look forward to hearing great things about the work of these student leaders in coming years,” said David Garr, M.D., associate dean for community medicine and professor of Family Medicine. Garr moderated the first day of the symposium. “The symposium takes you out of the microenvironment of becoming a physician and puts you into a real world environment where you consider the health of the nation as a whole,” said Kaufman. The symposium was founded on the belief that in order to integrate prevention and public health into their medical education programs, medical students must learn skills in leadership, community organizing, negotiating, public speaking, media and policy advocacy. Few opportunities currently exist for medical students to learn these leadership and organizational skills. By focusing on these areas of leadership development, the PAHPSLS strives to cultivate a cohort of medical student leaders capable of assuring quality medical education, and ultimately, improvement in the public’s health.   Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.