The purposes of the Student National Medical Association are:

1. To create an atmosphere wherein professional excellence and moral principles can find fullest expression.
2. To promote dissemination of information relative to minority issues in the field of medical education.
3. To take necessary and proper steps to eradicate practices in the field of health profession that compromises the goal of providing a quality education to minorities and women.
4. To promote the development of workable programs for the implementation of better urban and rural health care.
5. To provide national leadership in the promulgation of legislative policies for the provision of enhanced access to better health care.
6. To promote the sponsorship of programs for minority youth to encourage their entrance into the health professions.
7. To promote increases in the levels of minority student recruitment, admissions, and retention in schools training health professionals.
8. To encourage and promote the development of minority faculty in order to increase the presence of minority mentors and biomedical researchers in academic health centers.