The Medical School Wellness Committee is a group that works to improve the lives of Stony Brook medical students. We are funded through the Office of Student Affairs, but run entirely by students, and led by two student co-chairs. The current faculty advisor to the Wellness Committee is Dr. Harold Pass of the Department of Psychiatry. The MSWC is really a conglomeration of several sub-committees, that together work to improve and enrich the Stony Brook experience.

The Healthy Lifestyles sub-committee promotes physical and social well-being by organizing various activities which range from camping to bowling to yoga classes.

The Academic Affairs and Career Counseling sub-committee deals with medical students' futures as physicians. This committee sponsors speakers from the various specialties and subspecialties of medicine to discuss their careers and lifestyles. The committee has also forged a strong alumni network that medical students can use for advice and opportunities. This committee also sponsors the annual postmatch mixer in the spring, which brings the recently matched fourth year students in contact with first and second year students. The faculty advisor of this sub-committee is Dr. Roberta Seidman from the Department of Pathology.

The Substance Abuse sub-committee deals with substance abuse education and provides aid to those students who have a substance abuse problems. The faculty advisor to this committee is Dr. Harold Pass from the Department of Psychiatry.

The Stress Management / Peer Counseling Network combines educational programming about stress and time management with the first student-run peer counseling service to be offered to medical students. Representatives of this group are specially trained medical students who are on call to give confidential aid to any member of the medical student body. This group is led by Dr. James Weisberg and Dr. Harold Pass of the Department of Psychiatry.

The New Student Welcome sub-committee works closely with the Admissions Department and help plans the Pre-Orientation Program for incoming first-year students. This committee also helps plan Orientation and publishes the first year picture book ("The Facebook") and student handbook. In addition, together with the MSC social chairs help pair incoming students with second year students for the Big-Sib/Little-Sib program.

If you have any questions about the Wellness Committee we encourage you to please email us or stop by one of our meetings on the first Friday of every month. Check out our upcoming events for dates and locations. We look forward to helping your experience at Stony Brook to be a better and brighter one!

Spencer Payne and Jennifer Barton
Wellness Committee Co-Chairs