The Reevaluation of AΩA: Updating the Outdated

Abstract

Medical schools across the country are reconsidering the place of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society (AΩA) as evidence of disparities in membership selection continues to mount. Although AΩA national leadership responded to backlash with a reaffirmation of their motto "Be Worthy to Serve the Suffering," and their commitment to diversity, little meaningful progress has been made to this end. By continuing as an organization based on exclusivity, AΩA is an outdated institution that contributes to the structural racism observed in multiple domains of medical education. As we continue to move away from elements of medical education that perpetuate these inequities (e.g., USMLE Step 1 and USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills Examinations), the place of AΩA in medical education must be re-examined. Several leaders in diversity and inclusion have led the charge by suspending AΩA participation at their institutions (at least 16 U.S. medical schools) and this trend should continue without drastic changes to AΩA. Rather than pushing responsibility to individual chapters, AΩA national leadership must make significant changes to national selection criteria in order to provide appropriate oversight. We propose that AΩA leadership: (1) convene a national task force to review current selection criteria and make actionable recommendations, (2) incorporate standardized diversity goals into selection criteria to hold chapters accountable and limit internal bias, and 3) report diversity and inclusivity statistics annually to the public to promote organizational accountability. Ultimately, meaningful action is necessary for AΩA to remain an honor and to support the development of inclusive leaders in medicine.