Conferences for Medical Students

When a person is enrolled in medical school, there are often many events that are considered part of their education that exist outside of the formal school structure. These medical students are usually encouraged to go to a world medical conference where new ideas relating to the medical industry will be shared. While there are several of these medical conferences in varied locations, the biggest one in Europe is the Leiden International Medical Student Conference tha is held annually in the city of Leiden, Netherlands.

One of the reasons that the Leiden International Medical Student Conference has such a large attendance has to do with the prize that is offered to the top presentation. The winner of the conference will receive 10,000 Euros to help pay for their education or for other uses. Of course, this amount of money draws a lot of competition and the 2011 edition of the medical conference in Leiden had presentations given from an international medical student body from a total of 42 countries. As is the tradition, the Netherlands had the largest number of entries with 27, but it was a student in a German university, Farbod Sedaghat-Hamedani, that took home the top prize for his work in understanding proteins in heart contractions.

There are many other reasons why medical students would take the opportunity to attend the conference even if they do not have a presentation. The environment is full of important contacts that can be made and a student may be able to line up the start of their career after medical school at a conference of this type. In addition, it will give the students a look at the academic side of the medical industry in case they choose that direction for their career as opposed to the clinical side of medicine that treats patients.