THE AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL STUDENT JOURNAL was the brain-child of a group of UNSW medical students in 2010.

BORN OUT OF A PASSION TO RAISE UP THE NEXT GENERATION OF MEDICAL RESEARCHERS AND TO CHALLENGE THE FRONTIERS OF MEDICINE AND SCIENCE, OUR JOURNAL HAS SINCE GROWN INTO A LEADING NATIONWIDE STUDENT PUBLICATION WITH THOUSANDS OF FOLLOWERS.

This year marks the 5th  anniversary of this landmark journal. With it, we also embrace many exciting milestones and developments.

In January this year, our Facebook page following skyrocketed to 7,000 members, reflecting the continued expansion of our national readership. We have also revamped our e-newsletter, creating a vibrant new email publication with a distinctive focus on the wonders of the science behind medicine.

Our regular glossy publications, sent to all major medical campuses in Australia, are as vibrant as ever, with this issue showcasing winning entries from winners of the Australasian Students’ Surgical Conference (ASSC). Our hardworking Editor-in-Chief, Ms. Jessica  Chan,  has  also  brought  into  being an  exciting  new  section  of  our  magazine,

‘Debate’. In it, specialists present the case for and against hot-button medical ethico-legal issues du jour.

In  addition to  the  exciting new  changes  in our publications, we also warmly welcome new additions to our staff team, in particular Ms.  Karen Du,  who  has  taken the helm  in the   Internal   Department,   succeeding   Mr Chris Foerster as the new Internal Executive Director.   With   her   demonstrated   passion for medical research and experiences both here at home in Australia, as well as in the United States, we look forward to seeing her contributions with us in the journal.

As Mr. Chris Foerster moves on from his role in the AMSJ staff body to the Advisory Board and pursues his career interests both in Australia and overseas, we would also like to sincerely thank him on behalf of the staff body of the AMSJ for his incredible commitment to the journal and its vision to bring a love of medical research to medical students all around Australia. We wish him all the best with his future endeavours.

Ms. Grace Yeung, third-year medical student at Griffith University, who has had a passion for medical research since her high school days, also joins us as the continuing External Executive Director of the Australian Medical Student Journal from January this year. Her research interests include endocrinology, neuropsychiatry, auto-immunology and global politics. She succeeds Ms. Biyi Chen, who has now moved onto exciting new work openings and   commenced   her   medical   internship this  year. We also  thank  Ms.  Biyi Chen for her incredible work in the AMSJ here in the external department from 2012-2014 as previous External Director and Secretary and wish her well with her continuing journey.

Finally, we would also like to take this opportunity  to  thank  our  sponsors.  It  is only with their generous support that our publication continues to be widely available to students across the nation, providing medical  students  with  the  opportunity  to both publish their research in a high calibre journal as well as to keep up to date with the ground-breaking research work from other Australian students.

To  our  readers,  we  thank  you  again  for picking up another copy of the AMSJ. This issue’s prize pickings include original research into   management   of   clavicular   fractures, a discussion of gender imbalance in ADHD diagnosis,  the  psychology  of  hand  hygiene and much more.

Turn the page. A world filled with softly beeping cardiac monitors, the cool steel of scalpels, the spreading warmth of hot surgical lights, the hum of doctors at work and the quiet ticking of thinking minds awaits…

Happy reading!

Correspondence

G Yeung: g.yeung@amsj.org

K Du: k.du@amsj.org