2022 MS4SF Sub-Chair Role Descriptions and Responsibilities

As a Sub-Chair, you will be responsible for the development of your Team’s respective projects and programs. You will be responsible for meeting with your Chairs to discuss these processes and engage general body conversation in Slack.

Estimated 5 hours/month in addition to role-specific leadership responsibilities. 

Applications due by 10/17/21 at 5 PM EST, to nsood@pennstatehealth.psu.edu  

Advocacy

1. Legislative Advocacy Sub-Chair

The Legislative Advocacy Sub-Chair oversees local to national political advocacy. The sub-chair will:

• Initiate research and/or conversations with partner organizations in many states to identify target legislation (i.e. clean/renewable energy bills at a state or national level) that will be the focus of MS4SF advocacy efforts.
• Recruit, train, and support medical students in reaching out to lawmakers (particularly in swing states), with the goal of engaging members of every chapter in some form of legislative advocacy work.

2. Institutional Advocacy Sub-Chair

The Institutional Advocacy Sub-Chair is responsible for leading advocacy within medical institutions. The sub-chair will:

• Oversee incorporating benchmarks for sustainability and climate as it relates to health into AAMC/AACOM standards (the former into the LCME/AOA re-accreditation process and the latter into Step curricula), with the goal of requiring medical schools to address these issues at a structural level. 
• The institutional push would require some research into what standards already exist at the AAMC/AACOM (if any), who are the decision makers, and where are there opportunities to provide input.
• Mobilize medical students to make changes at their individual institutions and in the larger structure of medical education.

Climate Smart Health Care

1. Climate Smart Healthcare Communications Sub-chair

The communications sub-chair will focus on the membership/public facing aspects of the MS4SF Climate Smart Healthcare team. This is likely to include, but is not limited to: 

• Leading publication of the climate smart monthly newsletter, assisting with video or multimedia features, and helping to continually update the Climate Smart Healthcare Guide. 
• This role will also work in coordination with the other members to develop, initiate, and enact new ideas and initiatives. Meetings will take place once monthly with additional short meetings as needed on a project-by-project basis.

2. Climate Smart Healthcare Innovation Sub-chair 

The innovation sub-chair will focus on research to support the work of the MS4SF Climate Smart Healthcare team. This is likely to include, but is not limited to: 

• Identifying medical student led climate smart healthcare projects to be featured through the MS4SF platform, researching potential grant opportunities, and augmenting the work-in-progress Climate Smart Healthcare Guide with new resources and background information. 
• This role will also work in coordination with the other chairs to develop, initiate, and enact new ideas and initiatives. Meetings will take place once monthly with additional short meetings as needed on a project-by-project basis.

3. Climate Smart Healthcare Environmental Justice Sub-chair

The environmental justice sub-chair will focus on exploring the intersection of environmental justice with climate smart healthcare. 

• How can healthcare institutions make environmental justice a part of their sustainability plans? 
• How can MS4SF encourage and promote projects, ideas, and research that don’t just improve sustainability within the hospital walls but extend into the communities they serve? 
• This role has fewer specific projects at this time, although you will be encouraged to contribute to ongoing initiatives discussed in the other roles. 
• This role will also work in coordination with the other chairs to develop, initiate, and enact new ideas and initiatives. Meetings will take place once monthly with additional short meetings as needed on a project by project basis.

Curriculum

1. Curriculum Guide Sub-Chair

This Sub-Chair will focus on supporting maintenance and development of MSF4SF’s Climate Health Curriculum Guide. The Sub-Chair will reach out to medical schools across the nation to understand the state of their climate health curricula. They will note new modules and resources that may be useful for other schools as well as lend support and resources to support building a robust climate health curriculum.The Sub-Chair will work closely with the co-chairs to provide curriculum resources to schools.

TL;DR – Responsibilities

1. Reach out to medical schools to check in about climate curriculum and next steps
2. Provides resources to schools requesting help with curriculum
3. Updates the curriculum guide with new modules that may be of use to other schools
4. Podcasts Sub-Chair

The podcast Sub-Chair will focus on creative and outreach efforts with the Code Green Climate Podcast. Alongside being a liaison between the podcast creators (Natasha Sood and Sarah Hsu) and the co-chairs, this subchair will work closely with the op-ed subchair to pitch ideas for new podcasts and help recruit medical students to produce, write, or interview for episodes. Eventually, the subchair will have written and produced their very own podcast episode! 

TL;DR – Responsibilities

1. Works closely with Code Green Climate Podcast
2. Helps recruit medical students to produce/write/interview for podcasts
3. Expected to take at least 1 podcast to completion
4. Works closely with op-ed subchair

3. Op-Ed Sub-Chair
   1. The op-ed Sub-Chair will support current and potential op-ed content pertaining to climate health curriculum and education. Responsibilities include topic proposals for future op-eds, working with the website team and research chair to maintain a database of existing op-eds co-authored or affiliated with MS4SF, and coordinating with social media to promote relevant op-eds.

TL;DR – Responsibilities

1. Monitors for opportunities to write relevant op-eds
2. Maintains database of existing op-eds co-authored by or affiliated with MS4SF
3. Works with social media to promote relevant op-eds
4. Works closely with podcast Sub-Chair
5. Will work closely with Research Chair to enact website updates

Communications

1. Social Media Sub-Chair:

The social media sub-chair will comprise two main parts: creating graphics for social media posts, stories and campaigns being run by MS4SF and posting regular (minimum) content to the various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). The focus of this position will be to increase MS4SF’s social media presence and use these platforms to both recruit more members of the organization and highlight the work being done. The ideal person for this position would have a creative, design background and have a strong understanding of social media engagement. 

2. Newsletter Sub-Chair: 

The newsletter sub-chair will help to receive the information for the newsletter from other chairs and subchairs, as well as organize and clean the document before sending it out each month. This position will require editing and document formatting skills. This position would also entail researching for upcoming events and opportunities to add to the “announcements” section of the newsletter. This person will help curate a newsletter that is readable, approachable and organized. 

3. Website Sub-Chair:

The website sub-chair will manage and control the content on the website. The position would entail updating the website whenever need be. This person requires a background in website organization (we use WordPress which is rather user friendly) and design skills.  

Partnerships

1. Partnerships Mentorship Sub-Chair:

The mentorship sub-chair will help develop and manage an MS4SF mentor and mentee program to connect pre-med students with MS4SF members and to foster connections between MS4SF members and physicians working in climate and health. Responsibilities will include reaching out to pre-med programs and physicians to gauge interest, creating a plan for meetings between mentors and mentees, including possible questions to discuss, ways to support each other and potential projects, and coordinating and communicating with the pairings. In addition, this role will have the opportunity to work with MS4SF alumni to help build a larger network of support.

2. Partnerships Global Health Sub-Chair:

The global health sub-chair will help engage MS4SF medical student members around the world. Responsibilities will include helping organize 2-3 events per year for MS4SF members in the US to connect with members outside of the US. Examples of events can include networking nights, poster sessions, and book clubs.

3. Partnerships Chapters/Affiliates Sub-Chair:

The chapters and affiliates sub-chair will help manage and conduct outreach with member medical schools across the country. This role will help oversee semesterly project tracking and help work with schools on completing their project. Responsibilities will also include recruiting new MS4SF members and communicating with Communications Representatives and Chapters and Affiliates at member medical schools.

Research 

1. Journal Club Sub-Chair

• Assist with promotion of journal club sessions via email, Slack, and social media. Journal club sessions are scheduled in collaboration with Healthcare Without Harm and occur every other month.
• Recruit journal club representatives and serve as mentor for the writing of journal club related blog posts
• Review feedback from journal clubs and assist with implementing the appropriate changes to continue to improve the journal club experience

2. Research Database Sub-Chair

• Perform monthly literature reviews to keep the MS4SF research database up to date
• Recruit students to assist with reviewing all articles on the list and approve reviews before they are officially “published” for public viewing

Plant-Based Health 

Plant-based Health Sub-Chair 

• Secure speakers for events 
• Help write educational/presentational material 
• Create plant-based cooking demos for social media