History: The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) was founded in 1964 as a sub-division of the National Medical Association (NMA), largely through the effort and support of W. Montague Cobb, MD. NMA recognized the need to give active support to medical students and encourage them in the pursuit of careers as physicians. The SNMA's founding chapters were Meharry Medical College and Howard University College of Medicine.
Mission: SNMA is committed to supporting current and future underrepresented minority medical students, addressing the needs of underserved communities, and increasing the number of clinically excellent, culturally competent and socially conscious physicians.
Goals:
- To serve as a credible and accurate source of information relevant to minority issues in the field of medical education.
- To encourage and foster the development of minority faculty in order to increase the presence of minority mentors and biomedical researchers in academic health centers.
- To evaluate and cultivate the necessary measures to eradicate practices in the field of health profession education that compromises the goal of providing quality education to minorities and women.
