Local Chapter Guide
Hey!
Welcome to High Impact Medicine! We’re so excited you’re working to set up or run a chapter. If ever you have any questions or ideas please feel free to get in touch with our head of community or with your respective country coordinator.
@Abe Tolley
Our chapters are essential to High Impact Medicine: a core part of our philosophy is to bring together medics interested in having a widespread positive impact and form communities - both international and local. Our chapters do just that, hosting socials, speaker events and discussions and foster communities of medical students and junior doctors. All chapters are eligible to receive some funding from the central team to support their activities.
Country coordinators
UK: Abbos Jon
Germany: Erik Jentzen, Moritz Thiele
USA: Sarah Gebauer
Australia: Elina Christian
India: to be announced (probably Miti)
Iran: Fatemeh (but more EA group, less Hi-Med)
Current chapters and presidents/ ambassadors
Country
Name
Chapter Lead
UK
3
Cambridge
Rahul Shah
Oxford
Jake Mendel
Bristol
Germany
4
Berlin
Tim Farkas
Hannover
Markus Schirmer
Münster
Carolin Müller
Greifswald
Sebastian Paschen
How to get started
Please note: we’re really excited to work with you as a representative of the Hi-Med Community. We ask that when representing Hi-Med, either personally or as part of your chapter, you reflect our . Please check in with the community lead or the Executive Director if you have any questions or concerns! Importantly, we reserve the right to ask any representative of the Hi-Med community to step down from their role if your actions are at odds with our inclusive, collaborative and honest approach - wherever possible we will discuss this with you in an open dialogue first and come to a mutually agreeable solution.
Ambassadors
Ambassadors are students or doctors who are excited about spreading Hi-Meds philosophy that medics can have a wide reaching positive impact. Most chapters start off with 1-3 Ambassadors who start the Hi-Med community where they’re based. In future, chapters may establish a local committee (see below).
The Responsibilities of an ambassador are detailed below - the logistical details of publicity, events and finance are the same for Ambassadors and committee-based chapters - and you can find all that information in this manual too.
Responsibilities (time commitment)
Optional (but encouraged)
If you find other individuals interested in becoming part of the Hi-Med organising team where you’re based, refer to your country coordinator to discuss getting them involved! If you want you can establish a local committee (as below).
Establishing a local committee
A local chapter differs from being an Ambassador in that there is formal committee of students working on Hi-Med where you’re based.
There are several options on how to structure a local committee. Please choose the option that best works for you.
Option #1: task-oriented responsibilities
Works in Oxford, Cambridge
President
The president will be primarily responsible for Hi-Med chapter logistics such as running fellowship cohorts, registering as a university society, organizing finances and budgeting and generally keeping on top of everything that’s going on. You may help manage the email addresses, maintain a membership database and, with the Treasurer, organising finances and ticketing for any events (social or academic). Organization skills are essential, and some experience navigating University structures surrounding society registration would be very helpful but is not required.
Treasurer
The Treasurer will be tasked with managing the chapter’s annual budget, setting up and maintaining a bank account for the chapter, preparing the relevant financial documents and basic accounts when required. The Treasurer will also act as a General Committee Member, helping out the rest of the Committee with their roles.
Speakers Officers 1-2
We are intending to put on some talks next term; our Speakers Officers would be responsible (along with the President) for finding and reaching out to potential speakers, maintaining communication with them, logistically arranging the talk itself (including booking venues and/or managing Zoom), and greeting and introducing the speakers. This role will also involve arranging socials for the wider chapter community. This role would suit somebody with good professional communication skills, particularly interested in further exploring Hi-Med’s focus areas, and networking with medical professionals.
Events Officer
The Events Officer will be responsible for putting on socials and coming up with ideas for and executing other exciting and creative events. These can range in scale and scope, and could include panel discussions, presentation days, workshops, university visits, conferences and retreats. Some experience organizing events would be useful but not essential, but confidence with logistics is recommended.
Year Group / Junior Doctor Representatives
Representatives will help us to publicise Hi-Med events and initiatives to reach as wide an audience as possible. This will be through sharing on year group group-chats, Facebook groups, medical societies, personal social media followings (if possible) and with friends. Reps should be comfortable using social media for promotions. There will be opportunities to be involved with wider committee activities too if you’d like.
Option #2: goal-oriented responsibilities
Works in Berlin
We have defined a committee member to each section of the funnel,
Growth Officer
The Growth Officer is responsible for top-funnel outreach. This includes managing social media channels, hosting intro events and exciting people for creating an impact in Medicine.
Effective Development Officer
The effective development officer is handling mid-funnel activities, fellowships, workshops, and speaker events
Opportunities Officer
Will handle deep-funnel opportunities for internships, in-depth fellowship, focused workshops, etc.
Events Officer
Works longitudinally with all other officers. Organizes social events. Provides expertise in event management for other officers
Committee Logistics
Whatever the model, we’d encourage you to arrange an application process for your local committee:
This recruitment for a new committee should occur annually at a time appropriate for your university/ hospital. Please discuss when you will do this with your country coordinator.
Committee Responsibilities
President
Committee wide
Optional (but encouraged)
Things you should consult your country coordinator before doing
Publicity
Social Media
Get an Instagram / Facebook account! This is a great way to communicate with your members.
You can find the logo for a profile picture here: link in graphics repository
You should use Linktree to have a link in your bio with all current forms and opportunities to be involved.
Reposting material from the main Instagram is often a good way to maintain engagement.
How to name your Instagram account:
himed_city
LinkedIn
We have a central LinkedIn for all of Hi-Med - please don’t create your own.
Email
Chapter Mailing List
When you are collecting contact information from members or interested students, please use our get involved form. This way, they will automatically receive the Hi-Med global newsletter. Of course, you have access to this information via the local chapter management page and you can send out chapter-specific emails yourself.
It is important everyone you email has signed up via this link so they consent to receiving future emails and are able to opt out in future.
Wider Mailing lists
Most universities and hospitals have an email list or bulletin that you can send relevant information to. As Hi-Med we present ourselves professionally, so avoid plain-text emails and use a neat HTML-layout if possible. We are happy to assist with any requests. Contact XYZ
Slack
All chapters have a slack channel where all community members based in that location join. This is a nice way of advertising events and facilitating a community infrastructure where it is easy to reach out to other members of the community. Not everyone uses Slack so often chapters combine Slack with other publicity methods.
Ask your country coordinator to setup a slack channel for your chapter if it doesn’t already exist.
WhatsApp
Some chapters have Whatsapp Groups for their community - where only certain members (e.g. Ambassadors, committee members) can post. These can be useful ways to advertise events in a quick and accessible fashion.
Website
Contact your country coordinator to get your local chapter added to our website.
Event
Workshops
Intro Events
Abe to add
Speaker Events
Asks from potential speakers
If delivering a live talk in lecture format (either online or in-person based on your preferences and ability to get to the location) is something they are unable to commit to at the moment, they could consider alternatives such as:
You may combine speakers to form a panel discussion where relevant.
List of potential speakers
Social Events
Finance
General rules
High Impact Medicine believes that a local and engaged community can lead have a significant positive impact on peoples’ future career and donations. We therefore offer financial support for community building and running events.
Most universities provide funding for student groups and clubs. Be sure to check out these sources of funding as well!
Generally, expenses will be reimbursed after an event. If waiting for a reimbursement will cause financial difficulties, please contact us and we are happy to find an alternate solution.
Maximum reimbursement
Speaker events
50 USD per speaker, max. 2 speakers. Please be aware that most speakers will not charge for holding a talk or joining a discussion. These 100 USD are for high-profile speakers who will provide a substantial benefit to the event and will not come without compensation. The money can also be used to buy gifts or similar signs of appreciation. You may also use this compensation if a speaker requires reimbursement of travel expenses or to book a venue (though usually you can get this for free)
You may also provide refreshments up to 2 USD per participant. All food should be vegetarian and vegan where possible.
Social events
6 USD per participant, max. 1 time per month, max. 100 USD total
Maximum reimbursement
How to be reimbursed
Resources and templates
Merchandise
Rollup Banner
You can get a rollup banner for about $100 USD - Hi-Med will pay for this.
You can find designs here: add links to graphics repository
In the UK we’ve used VistaPrint in the past.
Flyers
If you need flyers you can order for about $50 USD per term. Be mindful about the benefits of printed flyers vs a simple QR code which is more environmentally friendly and cheaper.
