MAPS History

Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students (MAPS) is a new organization to the IU-Bloomington campus. The vision of the MAPS chapter is to address the needs of minority pre-medical students. MAPS is a nationally-recognized organization founded from the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). SNMA was established in 1964 by medical students from Howard University and Meharry Medical School as a subdivision of NMA (The National Medical Association). Today, many MAPS chapters exist around the US to support minority undergraduates pursuing medicine.

What are IU-MAPS goals and purpose?

Mission: IU-MAPS is dedicated to encouraging, retaining, and empowering minority students pursuing careers as physicians. By engaging in community service and outreach, we promote academic excellence while acknowledging cultural accomplishments. IU-MAPS goals include creating relationships among minority pre-medical students, establishing relationships with health professionals, providing members with access to vital workshops pertaining to medical school and the admissions process, and creating study tables so that students get to know each other while working on similar assignments.

The MAPS story: How was MAPS established at IU?

The IU MAPS chapter was established in the fall of 2008 by 10 pre-medical students. The inspiration behind the group resulted because: As minority students, we realized that there were not many other minorities in our classes and oftentimes we felt left out. Thus, we formed our own study groups and one day agreed that it would be best if ALL minorities came together to create a support system. Thus, the 10 of us got together with Dr. Cathrine Reck and Dan Woodside and started brainstorming. It wasn’t until we met Victor Njoku, an IUPUI medical student, that we decided upon MAPS. From that decision, all of us spent approximately two months drafting a constitution, electing officers, planning events, applying for grants, and performing the necessary tasks to become an official IU organization. After being officially established in November, we have received two grants: the Arthur Metz grant ($5,000) and the President McRobbie Diversity Initiative Grant ($39,000), totaling $44,000 in funding. We have participated in the Adopt-a-Family Program through the Shalom Center, held an MCAT workshop, and sent several members to attend the SNMA National Leadership Institute in Atlanta, GA. We started IU MAPS in hopes of uniting the minorities on campus and providing a support system for pre-medical students and quite frankly are amazed with our progress.