Alpha Omega Alpha

Founded in 1902 by William Root, a medical student at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago (now the University of Illinois), Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (ΑΩΑ) preserves the high ideals of medicine through a commitment to achievement, leadership, professionalism, teaching, service, and scholarship.

Alpha Omega Alpha currently has active chapters in 130 LCME accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects over 3,500 new members based on an election process that evaluates academics, professionalism, leadership, research, and service. The majority of new members are elected in their final year of medical school, but distinguished teachers, faculty members, and alumni can also be inducted into the society. All elections are held at local chapters. No elections are held nationally.

Though initially modeled after, and often compared to Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha looks at more than academic standing. In many cases, a valedictorian has not been selected for membership due to his/her inability to meet the other necessary criteria. Membership into ΑΩΑ can be a lifetime honor, if the member chooses to remain active, and ΑΩΑ members are expected to conduct themselves with honesty, leadership, morality, virtue, altruism, ethics, and dedication to serving others.

The organization's mission statement:

Alpha Omega Alpha — dedicated to the belief that in the profession of medicine we will improve care for all by:

AOA was founded in 1902 by William Webster Root and five other medical students at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which later became the University of Illinois College of Medicine. The impetus for its formation was the generally poor quality of American medical schools and students at the time; Root and his colleagues wished to promote excellence in these groups. They decided that membership in ΑΩΑ was to be based on both scholarly achievement and professional conduct.

Root pitched his idea to nearby schools, and soon the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine and Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine had set up chapters, too. Ten years later, there were seventeen chapters. As more medical schools became interested, the national organization was able to become more selective in the standards a school had to meet to be eligible. Soon, it became a mark of prestige to have an ΑΩΑ chapter at one's school.

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