Students in Health Professions
If you are looking for a fun and dedicated community of students interested in integrating their Catholic faith while learning and growing in their profession… Come join us!
The Philadelphia Student Catholic Medical Association (CMSA) encourages and supports students from all of the area’s medical, dental, nursing, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacy and other allied health professional schools.
For more information: Email CMSAPhilly@gmail.com
Our Mission is to grow closer to Jesus Christ as we learn to serve our patients and communities with skill, truth and mercy.
As a student member you have the opportunity to:
- Network and have fun with Catholic health professional students from other schools in the Delaware Valley.
- Nurture your Catholic faith and spirituality through prayer, participation in the sacraments, and small group study.
- Develop confidence with medical and ethical issues from discussions with experienced clinical mentors.
- Preferred access to educational resources and ethicists from the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
- Volunteer with local Catholic organizations serving the poor and vulnerable.
More Benefits of membership
Faith & Fellowship
We stick together! We are an immunization against isolation and burnout in today's secular health care environments. We work, pray and play together through our Annual Picnic, St. Luke's Mass, learning,
collaborative online projects and community-based activities.
We are faithful to our vocations within health care and to the teachings of our One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith.
Education & Advocacy
The practice of medicine has become a "team sport." Guild members are able to network and learn together with Catholic colleagues within your own discipline or through interprofessional collaborations.
Individual mentoring relationships help clinicians develop confidence and skills that help them grow within their careers and tackle greater complexity within their work settings.
Our Guild sponsors workgroups focused on: celebrating and encouraging clinicians with young families; serving vulnerable populations; educating women about the care of their fertility; protecting patients in clinical research; and witnessing to our Catholic faith within the realm of health care policy.
Guiding the Future
We offer opportunities to mentor students in our professions-they are our hope for the future. We have a Speakers Bureau for students, so they can hear from clinicians with experience and/or expertise. We also have a small network of clinical preceptors who teach & supervise students during externships.
Our Guild also sponsors scholarships for health professional students to attend the annual CMA Bootcamp, a week-long conference featuring spiritual development, an immersion in Catholic bioethics, and opportunities for leadership, mentorship and networking.
Issues of Conscience
Through our partnership with the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), members have free access to the NCBC's online resources and individual consultation with a Catholic ethicist when needed. Free consultation with an attorney familiar with issues of moral and conscience rights in the healthcare workplace is available through the Alliance for Defending Freedom.
