Twenty-one OUWB students were inducted last week into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.
The inductions took place during a special ceremony held Oct. 21 at The Community House in Birmingham. Selected members of the OUWB Class of 2026 and Class of 2027 became part of the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society, Delta Chapter. (See box for complete list of inductees.)
AOA is an international society recognizing students, alumni, and faculty who dedicate themselves to the medical profession. A 2021 Journal of the American Medical Association article noted AOA membership “is the hallmark of academic achievement in undergraduate medical education, and AOA membership is associated with future success in academic medicine.”
Students are selected by a committee of physicians. Among those on the committee was David Obudzinski, M.D., pediatrician and assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics — and AOA member.
“Students at OUWB accomplish a lot of different things, but there are some who accomplish quite a bit more,” he said. “These are going to be leaders in the field of medicine so it’s important to recognize them and give them a title that goes a long way with their career plans, too.”
AOA has 138 chapters in medical schools throughout the U.S. and has inducted nearly 200,000 members since its founding in 1902.
More than 50 Nobel Prize winners in physiology, medicine and chemistry have been AOA members. More than 30 of those were elected to AOA prior to earning the Nobel Prize.
The process of becoming inductees starts when students are invited to apply. Qualifying M4s must be in the top quartile of the class based on their first three years of medical school. For M3s, it’s the top 10% of the class and is based on the first two years of medical school. Quartiles are run in the beginning of August. (M3s who didn’t apply or weren’t accepted for induction in 2025 can still apply in their fourth year.)
For their applications, students are asked to list details about awards, leadership, community service, research publications and presentations, and involvement with professional organizations.
For 2025, a committee of 11 then reviewed applications. Any identifying information was removed from applications, so committee members didn’t know who they were reviewing.
Pamela Benitez, M.D., AOA Delta Chapter Councilor and Secretary, welcomed the inductees and their guests before she presented each student with an AOA certificate and gold pin.
“Congratulations,” she said. “Your dedication, scholarship, integrity, and service have brought you to this moment, and it is well-deserved.”
She further called it a “significant achievement.”
“Not only does it signify one’s accomplishments during medical school, but it tells the entire medical community that you went beyond just academics to make a difference in your community and school,” she added.
Christopher Carpenter, M.D., Stephan Sharf Dean, OUWB, also extended words of encouragement to the inductees.
“Celebrating your accomplishments is what I seek to do as a dean ... recognize the aspects that you bring to the table,” he said. “It’s my privilege to be here with some of OUWB’s brightest future physicians.”
Afterwards, inductees talked about what the induction meant to them.
“While it’s an honor to receive this award, it shouldn’t detract from the job at hand, to serve the suffering and it truly as a privilege to do so,” said Andrew Eibling, M4. “Even without this award, that would still be the goal of our lives as physicians, to be a burden carrier for our communities.”
Eibling also emphasized the importance of community and that “the only reason I got to the place where I was able to be honored … was because of the people around me.”
“My wife Jess especially, as well as my family, my classmates, my friends, and my mentors,” he said. “That community is the only reason I am able to walk this road and it’s all to them that I owe this honor.”
M4 Nidhi Navaratna called induction “deeply meaningful.”
“So many upperclassmen that I’ve looked up to have been inducted into AOA,” she said. “It holds a lot of meaning, it’s very special, and it’s a goal of mine that I’m really happy to achieve.”
Navaratna added that it also “feels nice to get together with everyone who is equally passionate” about academics, service to others, and leadership.
M4 Hoon Oh shared similar feelings as he reflected on what it meant to be “surrounded by my peers and colleagues who are so talented.”
“It feels like such a privilege to be here and I’m more overwhelmed than I can express,” he said. “I sat with Dean Carpenter and talked about all four years of medical school and how fulfilling OUWB has been and how much I’ve been prepared to be a leader in the clinical space.”
