The Dia de Los Muertos (DDLM) Pre-Med/Pre-Health Conference is a conference put on by the Bay Area CHE’s and the hosting of the conference is rotated on an annual basis between Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Davis. The goal of the conference is to provide premedical and pre-health students of color with information about applying to Medical School, Public Health School, Dental school, Pharmacy School and Nursing School, and to inspire them through a series of workshops, panels, and medical-student run gross anatomy demonstrations. Although the DDLM conference has a Latino theme, all students are welcome. It has developed into a unique opportunity to share the Latino culture and draw attention to health issues prevalent in the Latino and other underrepresented communities.

The DDLM conference also serves to recruit students into active roles within their respective pre-health organizations, creating networking opportunities throughout college campuses. The conference draws in approximately 300 students from local universities, state and community colleges, every year. For many, it is the first time in the year, and in their college careers, where they attend a conference that provides them with information about applying successfully to medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy or public health school.

The UC Berkeley chapter of Chicanos/Latinos in Health Education (CHE) planned and hosted the DDLM conference in collaboration with USCF’s Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) at the University of California, San Francisco on Saturday November 6th, 2010. The conference included its cornerstone gross anatomy lab demonstrations, admissions workshops for medical, public health and dental school, financial aid workshop, motivational speakers, and panel discussion on various health issues such as health disparities, summer programs, and women in health careers. At lunch there will me opportunities for students to meet with representatives from various medical and professional schools. The conference culminated with a raffle and closing remarks from a closing speaker.