"Traditional medical school admissions assessment tools may be limiting diversity. This study investigates whether the Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) is diversity-neutral and, if so, whether applying it with greater weight would dilute the anticipated negative impact of diversity-limiting admissions measures."
"There has been a gradual increase in the percentage of Hispanic medical school applicants over the last decade (Figure 1). Since 2002, the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) has allowed applicants to choose more than one ethnic origin and/or race. As is standard, the ethnic origin (or “Hispanic”) options precede the “race” options."
"Despite the continuing effort of increasing the representation of women and non-white faculty, when full-time faculty are viewed in aggregate, the diversity of medical school faculty has not kept pace with the diversity of medical school students or of society overall."
"A Black man on the south side of Chicago will live 8 years less than the average white man in the US. Much of this life expectancy gap is due to excess heart disease and cancer among Black men compared to whites. This gap could be reduced with prevention, early detection and access to primary care. The failures of the health care system in Chicago and in particular the gaping holes in the public health safety-net are partly to blame."
"The success of black men and the factors that contribute to that success guided this study. The results reinforced the conclusion that success for black men is achieved via a balance between educational experiences, exposure to medicine, psychosocial–cultural experiences, and personal attributes and individual perceptions. This information can be used by medical schools to strengthen their outreach programs, provide a theoretical construct for discussion and research, and generate questions for future quantitative studies."
"Abraham Flexner's 1910 exposé on medical education recommended that only two of the seven extant medical schools for blacks be preserved and that they should train their students to “serve their people humbly” as “sanitarians.” Addressing charges of racism, this article traces the roots of the recommendation that blacks serve a limited professional role to the schools themselves and presents evidence that, in endorsing the continuance of Howard's and Meharry's medical programs, Flexner exhibited greater leniency than he had toward comparable schools for white students."
"The underrepresentation of blacks in the healthcare professions may have direct implications for the health outcomes of minority patients, underscoring the importance of understanding movement through the educational pipeline into professional healthcare careers by race. Our results emphasize the importance of pre-collegiate factors and of jointly examining the full chain of educational decisions in understanding the sources of racial disparities in professional healthcare occupations."
"Although the 1910 Flexner Report recommended the closure of a large number of operating medical schools, its impact was disproportionately felt on minority schools. The report's recommendations resulted in the closure of five out of seven predominantly black medical schools. Also noteworthy about the report was Flexner's utilitarian argument that black physicians should serve as sanitarians and hygienists for black communities in villages and plantations."
"The number of underrepresented minorities (URMs; black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander) among US medical school faculty is markedly low when compared with their respective percent representation of the US population."
"The authors provide a brief history of JAMP, describe its structure and operation, summarize objective performance data, and identify some of the challenges still faced. These include increasing the participation of students from underrepresented minority groups within the legal structure for the program, and fostering substantive participation in JAMP by all of Texas' undergraduate institutions."
"Since the actionable determinants of health such as personal beliefs and behaviors, socioeconomic factors, and the environment disproportionately affect the poor (and often racial/ethnic minorities), many have suggested that focusing efforts on this population will both directly and indirectly improve the overall health of the nation. Key to the success of such strategies are the ongoing efforts by historically black medical schools (HBMSs) as well as other minority serving medical and health professional schools, who produce a disproportionate percentage of the high-quality and diverse health professionals that are dedicated to maintaining the health of an increasingly diverse nation."
"Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the health professions. Affirmative action and educational pipeline programs play a vital role in increasing the diversity of health professions, addressing educational opportunity gaps, and reducing health disparities. Part 1 of this 2-part series discusses the need for educational pipeline programs to assist underrepresented minorities (URMs) in entering the health professions and the importance of these programs in developing a cadre of diverse providers to reduce health care inequality."
"Increasing the enrollment of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in the health professions is a challenging and urgent issue. Six percent of nurses, 9% of physicians, and 5% of dentists are of black, Hispanic, or American Indian background, yet these ethnic groups collectively represent one-quarter of the U.S. population. The proportion of URM students in matriculating classes in U.S. medical and dental schools showed no net gain between 1995 and 2005, failing to keep up with the growth in minority populations."
"Reviews of the evidence on health professions workforce diversity point to several potential strategies to increase the numbers of minorities from underrepresented groups, including AI/ANs. These strategies encompass interventions early in the educational pipeline (e.g., general student academic preparation), to later-stage interventions targeted at both individuals (e.g., career awareness and academic preparation specific to a given health profession) and health professions schools (e.g., admissions policies and institutional climate). Grumbach and colleagues argue that targeting resources at later stages of the pipeline may be the most cost-effective means of increasing the number of underrepresented minority physicians."
"Increasing the diversity of the physician workforce has gained national attention as one of many potential solutions to problems of racial and social class disparities in access to health care. Ethnic minority physicians are more likely to practice in underserved areas and to care for patients of their own race/ethnic group, as well as low-income patients, Medicaid-insured and uninsured patients, and patients with poorer health status. Ethnic minority patients have been shown to experience higher levels of participation and satisfaction with ethnic minority physicians. Thus, a more diverse health care workforce could enhance the health care experiences of ethnic minority patients."
"The rationale for increasing diversity in medicine has been supported by increasingly strong evidence. Benefits to the medical educational environment, advances in research for minority populations, improved access to healthcare, and improve patient satisfaction,articularly for diverse populations, have been documented in the published literature. Nevertheless, despite nearly 50 years of targeted programs and advocacy, the representation of students and faculty from underrepresented minority (URM) groups in US medical schools remains disturbingly inadequate. Currently, only about 14% of medical students and 7% of faculty in US medical schools are from URM groups."
