College of Medicine

December 2017

Malcolm Dix came to medical school knowing he wanted to use his influence as a physician to make an impact beyond the four walls of a hospital.

“My father was a pastor, and he selflessly gave himself around the clock to restore lives that were shattered due to family problems, economic problems and a wide variety of things,” said Dix, a first-year student at the Florida State University College of Medicine. “After seeing the healing process that occurred through his ministry and how his partnerships and relationships positively impacted the lives of countless people, I asked myself how I could do that even more broadly and reach people in all venues. I saw medicine as that avenue for me.”

Dix is also helping to spearhead efforts to inspire more future physicians to do the same.

At the recent Association of American Medical Colleges annual meeting in Boston, he was elected as a regional delegate on the Organization of Student Representatives administrative board. Dix is one of five students representing the Southern region. Their duty is to ensure that national initiatives pertaining to medical education, student and legislative affairs, communications and diversity are effectively carried out at the regional level.

One of Dix’s goals as a regional delegate is to help ensure that the medical education curriculum continues to evolve, taking all ethnicities, religions, sexualities and orientations into consideration.

“The biggest thing I want to focus on is being more inclusive in our medical education,” he said. “Being very culturally sensitive in the delivery of medical education will help students be more culturally competent when it comes to different areas of people’s lives.”

Dix also says improving and expanding the reach of medicine to help patients in all aspects of their lives requires an understanding of how health-care issues and deficits affect people and regions differently.

“While I was in Boston, I learned about so many different health deficiencies and shortcomings in different regions of the country,” he said. “There are so many health disparities in the Northeast region that look completely different from the ones down here, so this position gives me the opportunity to really address these head-on and get involved in what’s at the root of these problems.”

Dix is appointed to his current position for the upcoming year but plans to remain involved in the AAMC throughout med school.

His ultimate aspiration is to open a community clinic and self-development center, to provide not only medical care but life-coaching skills.

“Medicine isn’t just limited to the confines of the hospital,” he said. “It reaches the streets, the parks, the churches, the social gatherings, the civic centers, everything. So just making myself a part of an organization that not only includes physicians but psychiatrists, social workers and people from diverse backgrounds will really help me learn how to meet the needs of the whole person.”