Home - International Medical Volunteerism Conference

Welcome to IMVC.org!

IMVC.org is a website, social network, and forum for medical volunteers and those interested in medical volunteerism. It is also the website for information about the international medical volunteerism conferences. If this is your first time here, you may want to see Our Mission, an Overview, and the Complete Schedule of the first annual international medical volunteerism conference.

Consider becoming a member of IMVC.org. Just go to the "Members Area" on the left side of the website to register or sign in. Membership is completely free and you can even create your account with your Facebook account. This allows you to synchronize your status updates. By becoming a member you can:

Add other members as friends
Send private messages to other members
Write comments on other people's profiles
Start and participate in discussions in the forums
Add photos and videos
Add medical volunteerism events to the calendar
Network with medical volunteers across the world

Information on future and past conferences is also available through the corresponding tabs on the left. All of the information on past conferences (except for the registration forms) is still available for viewing. Pictures, videos, and summaries of the conferences are posted after the conferences, but with a significant time delay.

You can access your profile through the member area or by clicking on your name in the upper right corner after you login or register. You can browse members through the members page.

The forums serve as the primary form of activity. The forums are where medical volunteers can talk about any subject. The forums for general discussions are listed first and more specific forums are listed lower on the page. There are forums for every session that occurs during actual conferences. The forums serve as a virtual conference that lasts all day, every day. If the conferences are parties/getaways for medical volunteers, then the forums allow for the celebrations to continue until the next conference. Members can use the forums to post announcements about their organizations and/or efforts and let other members know of any interesting events.

There are several shortcuts on the left side of the website. In the bottom left of your internet browser's window there is a share button. This sharing feature allows for easy sharing of the website. Depending on your browsing settings you may also see additional features in the bottom left. In the bottom right there is a chat button. This chat button allows you to chat using AIM, Facebook, Myspace, Google Talk, or Twitter. You can, for example, chat with any of your Facebook and Myspace friends while you are on this website. And with AIM, for example, you can video chat with any of your contacts. You have to have an account for all of these networks (signing up is easy), but you can exchange information through private messages on this website and contact the specific members that you wish to contact.

If you would like to find or post a medical volunteering opportunity, then the Volunteer Opportunities page can serve as your guide. All medical professionals, students (even pre-medical students), and people that have no intention of entering the medical profession can find medical volunteering opportunities there.

If you want to read about updates to the website or about the developmental process you can do so by reading Maki's blog. You can make a donation for the conferences, read about the individuals involved in coordinating the conferences, and see a list of sponsors and partners through the navigational tabs on the left.

IMVC.org has had tens of thousands of visitors. People from over 85 different countries have accessed it. People have visited from medical schools, hospital systems, and clinics across the United States. IMVC.org is ranked highly in search engines and people who search for medical volunteerism opportunities often come across it. It's most likely better that these individuals are coming across an interactive website rather than one that has not been updated in years... better for people that need the help of medical volunteers and better for society in general.

As a word of caution: The only negative thing about the popularity is that phishers and spammers sometimes visit the website. Never give any of your passwords to any individual. Companies like Yahoo and Google will also never ask you for your password. No credible person will ask you for a donation directly through the social networking features. These are general rules that one should follow while one is on the internet.

The logic of this website is that if more information on medical volunteerism is available on the internet then more people will find ways to volunteer. And since the material on this website is very inspirational, individuals who may not have planned on volunteering will volunteer. So the market of medical volunteers will both expand and fill up. Also, people whose careers are not related to health will most likely be inspired to find ways through which they can volunteer.

And then there is an additional, very simple logic. Since so many medical volunteers visit this website, there is most likely at least one individual that will visit this website who is as enthusiastic about a specific area of medical volunteers as the medical volunteers who are currently reading this. What if that one person joined your efforts? How much better off would your organization and/or efforts be?

It is most likely in the best interest of the volunteering efforts of the medical volunteers that are reading this and for the people that they serve to join the IMVC.org community. See you in the forums! Better yet, tell a friend about this website and then go to the forums!