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"Worthy to serve the suffering"

1. Medical students who have excelled academically and have shown promise of becoming leaders in the profession.
2. Physicians (residents or fellows, faculty, and alumni/alumnae ) who later have demonstrated such leadership.
3. Physicians or scientists who have attained distinction in any worthy line of endeavor and are not eligible for election by any other means. These individuals are elected by the Board of Directors as honorary members.

1. Those candidates whose scholastic qualifications place them in the upper twenty-five percent of their class shall be considered for election. From that number, one-sixth of the total number of the class expected to graduate may be elected to membership. In those medical schools that have no graded standings for students, the Dean or his/her designee can provide to the chapter councillor the names of students that approximate in number the upper quartile of the class expected to graduate and who, by consensus, match the high criteria for selection to membership (see section 2c.).
2. Up to one-quarter of the quota for any class may be elected to membership in the spring of the junior year. This opportunity is not a necessity; each chapter, each year, may determine whether or not to elect members from the junior class. Furthermore, chapters may elect all or a portion of their student members at any time during the senior year up to just prior to graduation.
3. Criteria for election: Scholastic achievement should be the primary but not sole basis for election of a student. Leadership capabilities, ethical standards, fairness in dealing with colleagues, potential for achievement in medicine, and a record of service to the school and community at large should be criteria in addition to the academic record. These additional attributes will be weighted in the selection process by policies established within each chapter.
4. Method of election: Individual chapters, through their members, including students, residents, fellows, and faculty, shall establish procedures to apply the national criteria for election of new members. Each eligible candidate shall be considered separately. If academic records and/or personnel files of eligible candidates are reviewed in connection with the election process, the chapter must contact the Dean's office to determine if the specific written consent of students is required prior to this review. If so, that must be obtained 1 from eligible students before the election process. Only the Chapter Councillor or the Councillor-designated alternate member(s) should have access to grades or class standing of students. Conflicts arising about choices of students for election will be resolved within the institution.
5. Students who have taken part of their medical school education elsewhere will be eligible for election to the Society after being in attendance for one academic year in the medical school of the electing chapter.
6. Elected candidates may only be inducted into the Society after the membership fees to the local chapter and to the national AWA office have been paid.

1. Alumni/Alumnae: Graduates of medical schools in which a chapter exists, who were not elected as students, residents, or fellows, but who, after ten years or more following graduation are judged on the basis of achievement to be qualified, may be elected to membership in their medical school chapter.
2. Faculty: Members of the sponsoring school's Faculty of Medicine who hold an earned doctoral degree (M.D., Ph.D., or equivalent) and have demonstrated a commitment to scholarly excellence and medical education may be elected to the chapter of that school.

1. An investigation convincing to the Board of Directors that such action is desirable and a unanimous affirmative vote of the Board to that effect.
2. Formal declaration by the President of withdrawal of the charter. Specifically, any chapter inactive for five years will be so notified and disenfranchised after expiration of a one year's grace period to allow the given chapter to consider and implement reactivation. Further, the charter of a chapter in a school that loses its accreditation will be invalidated and the chapter cannot elect new members. "Inactivity" of a chapter will be determined by the Board based on recommendations by the appropriate regional councillors and the Executive Secretary.

1. Committees
   1. A standing Committee on New Chapters shall be appointed by the President with the approval of the Board of Directors. This committee shall, upon direction by the President, investigate applicant institutions and make recommendations thereon to the Board of Directors.
   2. An Executive Committee shall be appointed, consisting of the officers, and additional members as appointed by the officers. The duties of the Executive Committee shall be to transact the business of the Society in the interim between meetings of the Board of Directors.
   3. The Board of Directors shall appoint such other committees, temporary or standing, as may from time to time be required.
2. Fees and Dues
   1. The initiation fee to the Society will be established by the Board of Directors and may change from time to time as it may deem necessary.
   2. Annual sustaining dues, which shall include an annual subscription to the Society's quarterly journal, The Pharos, shall be set by the Board of Directors and shall be payable to the Secretary-Treasurer upon receipt of notice. The fee for lifetime sustaining dues will be set by the Board of Directors.
3. Fiscal Policy
   1. The Board of Directors must approve an annual budget. There shall be an annual audit.
   2. The fiscal year shall extend from September 1 to August 31.
4. Publication Policy
   1. The Pharos shall be the official publication of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. The Board is the publisher of The Pharos and responsible for editorial policy and management.
   2. The Editor of The Pharos shall be appointed by the Board of Directors and provide an annual report to the Board.
   3. Advertisements will not be included in The Pharos without the consent of the Board of Directors.
   4. The editor of The Pharos shall be an ex officio member of the Board of Directors of the Society and may also serve as Executive Secretary of the Society at the discretion and direction of the Board of Directors.