Nation's medical schools lack ethnic diversity

The number of minority doctors doesn't correspond to entire population.

By Lakeisha Williams

Published Sept. 30, 2008

The lack of diversity within the MU School of Medicine is one example of a nationwide trend.

Black people, Hispanic people and Native Americans account for 25 percent of the U.S. population and will reach an estimated 50 percent by 2050, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Minorities, however, account for 14 percent of all medical school students and only 6 percent of those currently employed in a medical field, said Charles Terrell, the association's chief diversity officer.

Some foresee an overall shortage of doctors by 2020. The association seeks to reverse that shortage by increasing the diversity of medical students.

"I think that we are a very diverse class culturally," first-year MU medical student Rula Khreis said. "I find it helpful to interact with others from different cultures and learn about their experiences. I feel that MU is making a great effort to diversify."

At MU's medical school, minority ethnic groups account for fewer than 17 percent of the school's students.

Medical school spokesman Richard Gleba said this year, in order to improve minority student recruitment, the university filled a new diversity coordinator position. Also, for the first time, the school participated in a health professions summit.

The summit included bringing 22 students from Cristo Rey Jesuit High School to the university for a week of participating in educational health activities this past June. Minority students account for 98 percent of the high school's population.

In addition, MU has many pre-existing initiatives, such as the Excellence in Learning program, which recruits minority students in 15 St. Louis public schools. As an example of efforts outside of MU, students with an interest in health sciences or medicine are given the opportunity to experience training programs through the Saturday Scholars Program at Washington University.

Also, the medical school participates in the Kauffman Scholars health summit, which exposes students between seventh grade and their senior year in high school to medical education programs and other health professions at MU. All of the participants come from low-income families living in Kansas City.

The Association of American Medical Colleges is a non-profit organization that represents 125 of the nation's accredited medical schools, including more than 100,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students and 104,000 resident physicians.

"Faculty and students should support and take part in institutional diversity initiatives," Terrell said. "In addition, the AAMC is encouraging medical schools to use holistic review - assessing applicants' overall academic and personal achievements in terms of the opportunities and challenges they have encountered - in their admissions processes."

In support of this effort, the association published a 34-page article in March, titled "Roadmap to Diversity: Key Legal and Education Policy Foundations for Medical Schools."