Monthly Archives: May 2019

Winner of the PEHF AM2019 GA scholarship announced!

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Dear IFMSA members worldwide,

It is with great pleasure that we announce the results from the evaluation of all applications for the AM2019 Scholarship, provided by the Prof. Erik Holst Fund to a promising medical student, member of IFMSA, in order to cover some part (if not all) of the expenses for his/her participation at the IFMSA General Assembly – August Meeting 2019 in Taiwan.

We received 65 applications in total, 65 excellent applications from all 5 IFMSA Regions. After a thorough evaluation that lasted 6 days, we finally reached to the winner, who is:

Mr. Ubraine Njineck WUNDE from Cameroon!

Congratulations!

The Board of Directors of the Fund will be in touch with him in the following days in order to arrange properly how the scholarship will be received by its beneficiary.

We would like to take this opportunity and provide you with full details on how the whole evaluation procedure took place, in terms of transparency.

The Fund first announced the call for applications for the scholarship on April 23rd, 2019 over the IFMSA General server, Erik Holst Facebook page and erikholstfund.com and provided a timespan of  2 weeks for receiving applications online. The first announcement was also posted on various IFMSA-related Facebook groups, and was followed by 1 reminder as the deadline approached. The deadline for receiving applications expired on May 7th, 2019 at 23:59 (GMT/UTC). The application procedure was done at our website erikholstfund.com by filling in an online application form, which included a CV and a Motivation Letter of each applicant as a prerequisite for application submission. Through these two texts, we would be able to better become acquainted with each candidate and take a thorough look into their aspirations from their possible participation in the GA, their vision of IFMSA and themselves in it, as well as their background and achievements both academic, professional and personal. As the scholarship aims mainly in students who cannot attend the GA due to financial constraints, special attention was given to any relevant information provided by the applicant. Applicants that haven’t attended a GA before, and those who had previously applied for our scholarship programme were also seen in a more favorable way.

After the evaluation, a ranking list of all applicants was determined that gave the winner of the scholarship.

Finally, we would like to thank once again all those who applied, especially those who made it to the list of the finalists. We are sorry that we could not give more scholarships this time, but hopefully we will be able to do so for the next GA, that is the MM2020! We do encourage all of the applicants to reapply next time, when the call for applications is released! We will be happy to receive your applications once again when time comes!

Check our website erikholstfund.com for more news & updates on the GA Scholarships and other upcoming grants, as we will be enriching its content soon, after the scholarship is received, as we shall be following our grantee Mr. WUNDE and his experience at the IFMSA GA- AM2019!

Kind regards,
Konstantinos M. Roditis
Chair, Prof. Erik Holst Fund Board of Directors

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The Prof. Erik Holst Fund Board of Directors: Konstantinos Roditis (Chair), Yon Chong (Secretary), Stefan Buttigieg (External Relations Officer), and Batool  (IFMSA President).

The Prof. Erik Holst Fund Alumni Partners: Ljiljana Lukic, Giacomo Cinelli, Ahmet Murt

Get to know Daniel Sierra!

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Meet Daniel Andrés Sierra García from Guatemala!

Daniel Sierra

Daniel Sierra, PEHF MM2019 awardee

He is the 4th-year medical student, born in 1997, studying since 2014 at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala in Guatemala, who has been awarded with the 7th GA Scholarship in the history of our Fund  to travel to Slovenia for the IFMSA General Assembly – March Meeting 2019 representing his country and ASOCEM-Guatemala, of which he is the current National Officer on Human Rights and Peace (NORP).

Daniel was chosen among 43 applicants for the scholarship, according to his background, expertise and motivation. The amount of €500 of scholarship money has partially covered Daniel’s expenses for registering and traveling to the MM2019 in Slovenia to meet with friends and colleagues studying Medicine from all over the world!

Learn more about Daniel, by reading through his CV, as well as his Letter of Motivation.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Name: Daniel Andrés Sierra García

Date of birth; 31/03/1997

Age: 21

Country of birth: Guatemala

Medical Education; Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala; 4th year

Languages: Spanish (native) & English (advanced)

Expectations and goals in IFMSA: to become part of the IT of SCORP & lead my NMO as President; I know I can do an outstanding job in these positions if I gain the necessary skills and knowledge, so I get enough experience in order to achieve great things for the IFMSA and my NMO. Also, take the opportunities of IFMSA in opening doors to other countries and international ONGs to work there in a near future.

About me: Young dreamer, passionate about service, leadership, empowerment and capacity building. Human Rights advocate. I cannot imagine a better, prosperous and just society for all its members without thinking beforehand about the respect and fulfillment of Human Rights. I firmly believe that a better world is possible if the new generations are willing to fight for it, and we as medical students are very important change agents.

IFMSA Experience:

  • Active member since 2015
  • Local Officer on Human Rights and Peace for ASOCEM CUM, the larger, founder and most important local committee from Guatemala, from June 2016 to December 2017. During this term, SCORP was the SC with the most number of active members and the one with more projects
  • National Officer on Human Rights and Peace, from January 2018 to December 2018. During this term, two new LC were added, and we created a innovative plataform for national working. Also, implemented the SWG working style in the whole country and for every project, and other SCs started using it because the style is useful and fruitful. SCORP Guatemala was recognized internationally because of the work with other NORPs and NMOs to create mlti-national projects
  • OC Chair for the first SRT in Guatemala, 2018. 82 participants came from 7 different countries.
  • Coordinator and trainer for the first TNHRT in Guatemala and Central America, during the SRT Guatemala 2018. 21 SCORPions were trained.
  • Fundraising & Sponsorship Coordinator for the Third National General Assambly 2017
  • Member of the SWG for the World Human Rights Day 2018, November and December 2018
  • Coordinator of the Regional Campaign for the World Human Rights Day 2018, focused on Youth Rights and the role of yourth in HRs advocacy and promotion of Peace Culture.
  • Member of the SWG for the Regional Campaign of World Refugee Day 2018, May and June 2018. Created the first manual for the region regarding the topic and addressing the migrational crisis in Latin America.
  • Head of Delegation for the Americas’ Regional Meeting, January 2018; first delegation from IFMSA Guatemala to participate in a Regional Meeting
  • Head of Delegation for the Americas’ Regional Meeting, January 2019; gretest delegation in IFMSA Guatemala
  • SCORP Sessions Team for the ARM 2019
  • President Candidate for IFMSA Guatemala, for the next period 2019
  • Received the Training New Human Rights Trainers -TNHRT Training- in the PreRM 2018
  • Second Place on the Poster Fair during the ARM 2018
  • Author of the article “About Human Rights: what is happening in Guatemala?”, published in the Americas Heartbeat, the Regional Magazine

Others:

  • Volunteer coordinator on TECHO Guatemala
  • Junior Journalist for Visión Mundial Latinoamérica
  • SDGs Delegate during the Iberoamerican Youth Forum 2018
  • SDGs trainer, by UN Youth Guatemala
  • Academic Secretary for the Association of Medical Students of Guatemala, 2016-2017
  • Senior delegate in the National Encounter of Students Research, 2018
Daniel Sierra attending the MM2019 in Slovenia
Daniel Sierra at a usual day in Med School in Guatemala
Daniel Sierra and his poster at the MM2019 in Slovenia

LETTER OF MOTIVATION

Dear IFMSA Alumni,

IFMSA has become a family for me. Working on the IFMSA has given me the best experiences, great lessons of life and a self-discovery platform where I have found my greatest skills. Even thought IFMSA Guatemala has grown a lot in the last three years, very few of our members have had the opportunity to attend a General Assembly, mainly due to economic situation. That’s why I’m writing this motivational letter, so it can be taken in account for the Professor Erik Holst Fund to attend the MM2019. Attending to the MM2019 would give me the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills to improve my work at the Team of Officials in my NMO.

My main motivation is:

  1. Attend the MM, from Friday 1st of March until Thursday 7th of March, to train in the topic of Gender in Health Care. Guatemala is a country with great index of Gender Based Violence against women, and health system doesn’t protect them, so for me is very important to have the knowledge in order to start a change in my home country.
  2. Represent the voice of my NMO in the event and make Guatemala a visible country in the map of IFMSA. We, even when we are a very little country, have a lot to give to others, and we also need a lot of help to accomplish a real change, so it’s a great opportunity to make networking with other NMOs.
  3. Get the knowledge of how the IT works. It strikes me to be, someday, the SCORP Regional Assistant for the Americas and, later on, Liaison Officer for Human Rights and Peace, but before I need to get the necessary knowledge and experience to do it in the best way, and the MM is a great opportunity to do it.
  4. Capacitate through President Sessions to get the knowledge necessary to become President of my NMO. Being President is a great responsibility, and you need more than leadership to do it; I’m candidate for President of my NMO, and if I win, I want to do it in the best way possible, so I need the necessary skills to do it.