FACTS Ambassador Feature
Becoming a FACTS Medical Student Ambassador: Part 2
By: Sarah Makarewicz
Director’s Note: Today concludes the second part of testimony by FACTS Ambassador Sarah Makarewicz. In Sarah’s words, becoming a Student Ambassador has been a “life-changing experience,” but this experience is not only limited to students. In 2023, we launched our PEP Ambassador program for residents and medical professionals early in practice. Sarah and the 100+ other students and residents benefit from participating in our Ambassador program thanks to the generous support of our benefactors.
To grow our Ambassador programs, your faithful support matters now more than ever! Our goal is to recruit 24 more monthly donors in 2024 to help sustain and expand these vital learning opportunities for students. Your gift of $50 per month will cover the cost for one student to take our 4-week elective. A $100 monthly gift will cover the cost for one resident to take our NEW resident elective. A $200 monthly gift will cover the cost for our monthly ambassador program meetings. A $500 gift will cover the cost to bring our FACTS elective to another nursing school. Please consider giving today to support the next generation of medical professionals!
Part 2
Finding a Sense of Belonging in FACTS
After searching for others who shared my approach to reproductive health care, I came across the International Institute of Restorative Reproductive Medicine (IIRRM) via an online search. Through their website, I discovered FACTS About Fertility. The FACTS mission statement resonated within me as they seek to educate medical students about evidence-based FABMs so they may empower patients along their reproductive health journeys. Seeing that, I knew I had found exactly what I was looking for — a group passionate about promoting FABMs. In the summer of 2023, I learned that FACTS was having an in-person conference and I felt compelled to attend, traveling nearly one-thousand miles from my hometown of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“The FACTS mission statement resonated within me as they seek to educate medical students about evidence-based FABMs so they may empower patients along their reproductive health journeys.”
I remember entering the conference area and being immediately overcome. There were displays on clinic models and insurance companies supporting holistic women’s health, books and research posters about natural fertility methods, new fertility-tracking methods like NeoFertility, and so much more. At the conference, I attended lectures by the big names in the FABM world like Dr. Phil Boyle and Dr. Lauren Rubal. I had an opportunity to meet fellow medical students and residents who introduced me to the FACTS Medical Student Ambassador program and the FACTS Medical Student Elective, both of which immediately piqued my interest. At this conference, I felt like I had finally found “my people.” Here was a group of over 100 medical professionals and researchers who recognize that FABMs are not adequately addressed in medical education and are committed to sharing the evidence of their effectiveness in women’s reproductive health care. Upon returning home from Minnesota, I registered to become a FACTS member, and more importantly, a FACTS Student Ambassador.
The Impact of Becoming a FACTS Medical Student Ambassador
Almost immediately, I began attending monthly Student Ambassador Meetings where I met medical and other health professional students from across North America. This spoke to how the impact of FACTS is beginning to spread beyond American borders. During each monthly meeting, a physician is featured as a speaker and shares their story, involvement with FACTS, and advice for medical students. Three important highlights of being a FACTS Ambassador for me have been:
1) networking with other medical students to complete research;
2) gaining confidence to speak the truth about FABMs to colleagues; and
3) learning more about the FACTS elective.
Gaining research experience through the Ambassador program has been a very rewarding opportunity. Recently, I paired up with another Ambassador to write a research abstract that was submitted to IIRRM’s upcoming Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We are currently creating a poster of our research to present at the Congress, which focuses on analyzing survey data from the FACTS Medical Student Elective.
The best piece of advice I received from the Ambassador meetings was how to have discussions with colleagues where I explain my convictions about FABMs and restorative reproductive approaches to women’s health. I learned how to share my point of view not by saying “I don’t agree with/prescribe contraception,” but by highlighting “I have something novel and effective to offer, and I have this additional training that can serve women and help address the root cause of their reproductive health problems.”
“I learned how to share my point of view … as ‘I have something novel and effective to offer, and I have this additional training that can serve women and help address the root cause of their reproductive health problems.’”
I have since had the opportunity to engage in fruitful conversation with a preceptor during a recent Family Medicine elective. As we discussed my views of hormonal contraception, she acknowledged that the reproductive health solutions and approaches I am learning to offer patients could be an asset to her clinic and of interest to her own colleagues and patients. This was amazing because it validated that I had grown personally and professionally. In medical school, I lacked the confidence to even approach my professor; now I find myself with stronger convictions, evidence-based knowledge, and an ability to confidently share the truth about FABMs with the medical community.
Lastly, the FACTS elective has been an underlying theme of the Ambassador meetings because most of the Ambassadors are currently completing or have recently finished the elective. The FACTS elective is a 4-week elective split into two parts: Part A, “FABMs for Family Planning”, and Part B, “Fertility Awareness for Women’s Health.” This is an unparalleled elective opportunity not available at any other medical school in North America. This elective provides students with a comprehensive review of the different FABMs and the evidence for their effectiveness, updates on FemTech, and case studies to learn about approaches to female reproductive health concerns. As I described earlier, medical students do not traditionally learn accurate information about the effectiveness of FABMs and how to appropriately discuss FABMs as a legitimate option for reproductive health. I plan on participating in the 4-week elective in Fall 2024, which will be the highlight of my final year of medical school. It will serve as a springboard towards future professional development to become a FABM-trained clinician.
“This is an unparalleled elective opportunity not available at any other medical school … (which) provides students with a comprehensive review of the different FABMs and the evidence for their effectiveness.”
A Path for the Future
Becoming a FACTS Ambassador this past year has been a life-changing experience. Being a part of FACTS makes me feel supported amongst a growing community of medical professionals who share my zeal for women’s health. As an Ambassador, I have been given tools to thrive and spread the truth of FABMs to my peers and preceptors on a local level. After discovering my passion for reproductive health in high school biology, and watching it mature through undergrad, into my marriage, and now as a medical student hoping to impact patients’ lives, I am blessed to have FACTS guide me along my medical career path. I strive to one day offer FABMs to my patients as an option for their fertility goals and provide innovative and restorative approaches to menstrual health struggles for women across the reproductive lifespan.
Becoming a FACTS Ambassador this past year has been a life-changing experience… (and) I am blessed to have FACTS guide me along my medical career path.
I am grateful to my mother, my husband, Louise Boychuk, Jammie Fischer, Logan Waechtler, Dr. Marguerite Duane, and many others who have inspired and supported me along my FABMs journey.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Makarewicz
Sarah Makarewicz is a 3rd Year MD student at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. After attending FACTS’s September 2023 conference in Minneapolis, she was inspired to join FACTS as a Medical Student Ambassador. In November 2024, she plans to complete FACTS’s 4-week medical school elective and hopes to begin the Marquette Method Medical Consultant training in early 2025. Her career dreams include pursuing a Family Medicine residency with specialized training in low-risk obstetrics, lactation, and restorative reproductive medicine (RRM).
