Integrative Medicine Forum

After months of hard work and planning, the one-day Integrative Medicine Forum was a huge success with a turnout of close to 300 participants. Attendees ranged from UCSF students to members of the different communities within San Francisco. As one of the organizers of the forum, I was very busy trying to make sure that everything was going well, especially with breakfast and lunch. By the time I took care of all the meal-related stuff, I was too tired to participate in any workshops or lecture. Therefore, I went through the whole day of the forum without learning anything from the speakers.

From the feedbacks of my classmates and the written evaluations, I found out that Dean Ornish was very inspirational and many of the workshops were interesting. Despite the limited vegetarian option and lack of choices for lunch, people who had suggestions for improvement in food expressed great satisfaction with the quality of the forum. Many commented on the great level organization and comprehensive selection of speakers.

Being part of the planning committee, which was composed mainly of first-year medical students, involved a lot of time and energy. We started to meet and plan since January, in order to get speakers and food donations. I never imagined myself to be someone who would ask businesses for donations; I took over the position unwillingly, but learned a lot from doing it. I wish I had more control of the lunch situation.

I don't know how event planners do it, but it takes so much time and organization to put a big event together. I probably will never take up event planning as my job. It's so stressful!