This year, the annual Latino Medical Student Association-Northeast (LMSA NE) conference will be held in person from Friday, Jan. 27 through Sunday, January 29 at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD. 

Titled "Un Futuro Para Todos: Highlighting Latino Innovation, Service and Leadership in Medicine," the 50th regional conference seeks to honor individuals who have paved the way for all Latinos in medicine. To make this possible, the event will feature more than 40 activities, including a research symposium, workshops, oral presentations, networking opportunities, panels, faculty speakers and an exhibitor fair.

More than 500 pre-medical students, medical students, and faculty members from the 40 medical school chapters that are part of the association are expected to attend. 

Renowned Mexican-American neurosurgeon Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa will be the keynote speaker at the event on Saturday afternoon. Quiñones-Hinojosa is also noted for having served as chief of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Mayo Clinic's Florida campus and for leading National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research to find a cure for brain cancer. 

Dr. Mario Molina and Dr. John Paul Sanchez will also serve as keynote speakers, while Dr. Roy Zielgelstein, Dr. Shari Martin Lawson and Dr. Elena Rios will offer welcoming remarks. 

According to LMSA NE Co-Director Jordan Juarez, LMSA has been empowering medical and pre-medical students of Latino and Hispanic descent since 1972. As part of its mission, the non-profit organization was created for the purpose of representing, supporting, educating and unifying Latinx medical students in the United States. 

Currently, 20% of the U.S. population is Latino or Hispanic. However, only about 6% of the medical community identifies as Latino or Hispanic. For Juarez, "this is not enough."

About 43% of Hispanic/Lanitx physicians were born in the US, 21% in South America, 9% in Puerto Rico, 9% in Cuba, 8% Mexico, and 5% in the rest of Central America. 

Hispanic students represented 12.7% of matriculants, up from 12.0% in 2020. The encouraging numbers for Hispanic and black students among first-year medical students are a positive note, but it would need to be the beginning of a large trend to reverse a problem in physician representation that has existed for generations. 

“Through events like our Annual Northeast Regional Conference, we hope to inspire the next generation of Latinx/Hispanic physician leaders,” Juarez concluded.

For more information about the event, click here.