FAQs

What is the SAFP?

The Society of Air Force Physicians (SAFP) represents the Air Force Chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP). The Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) has an official representative serving on the Board of Governors of the ACP.

The SAFP was originally established in 1957 as a means of disseminating scientific information throughout the AFMS. The Society was recognized as the Air Force Chapter of the American College of Physicians in 1969. Since then, it has served to connect Air Force students, internists, residents, fellows, and subspecialists in internal medicine with senior leaders within the AFMS and the ACP.

What is the Medical Student Advisory Council (MSAC)?

The MSAC is the student body of the SAFP. Although MSAC was just created this year, membership has already grown to over 200 members! The Council was formed to help facilitate communications between medical students interested in Air Force internal medicine and practicing Air Force internists. In addition, the Council provides a way for the SAFP to gather students' ideas and opinions so they can be shared with the governing body of the ACP.

How do I Become a Member of the MSAC?

Membership in the MSAC is automatic when you indicate on your ACP Medical Student Membership Application that you are an Air Force student. In order to apply, fill out the online application. At the end of the application, you will notice a fill-in blank for Military Branch. Type Air Force in that blank and you will be made a member of both the MSAC and the ACP. Many benefits are available through your membership in the ACP. Details can be found on ACP Online.

Membership in the ACP, the SAFP, and the MSAC are free to all HPSP, USUHS, or civilian medical students who may be interested in Air Force medicine. Membership in the SAFP does not, in any way, commit you to pursuing a career in internal medicine, but it does offer several significant advantages:

  • First is the opportunity for networking—both within the SAFP and the ACP. This allows you to meet and interact with practicing internists around the globe!

  • Second is the opportunity to have direct representation—through your Air Force Governor and through 2LT Dillon Savard, a third-year USUHS student, to the guiding bodies of the SAFP and the ACP. This is especially significant as the ACP is now the second largest medical organization in the U.S, and currently represents over 110,000 internists.

  • Third is that involvement in the SAFP can provide an opportunity for you to get to know the residency program directors of each of the internal medicine Air Force training programs.

  • Fourth is that as a medical student member of the SAFP you will receive a copy of the Air Force Chapter newsletter, an informative news bulletin of issues and topics of interest to both military and civilian internists.

  • Fifth is that you will be automatically invited to attend and/or present a research paper or interesting case at the SAFP annual meeting! The next meeting will be held March 8-11, 2004 in San Antonio, TX.

What do you Mean by Members of the MSAC "Voting"?

As a member of the MSAC your opinion is of interest to the SAFP. When the SAFP has specific issues on which they want student input, they will pose a question/topic for discussion at the Student Discussion Group. You then have the opportunity to be heard by responding to that question via this site. The responses will then be tallied and the results will be sent to the SAFP and displayed on this site. The SAFP may then use that information as one of many considerations in developing the SAFP's formal position on an issue.

How do I Become an Advisor?

One of the goals of the MSAC is to provide the SAFP with a way to hear the medical student voice. Another goal is to provide medical students interested in Air Force internal medicine with as much information as possible so that they may make informed career decisions. That's where you come in, on an individual level. By submitting your contact information and a brief biography, you can make yourself available to MSAC members to ask your questions about your specific experiences in the Air Force as an internist.