Opportunities for Minorities

9 Opportunities for Minorities

Minorities in medicine: historical perspective

Doors are open for minorities

Admission of minorities: a status report

Current challenges

Financial aid for minority students

Summer programs

MINORITIES IN MEDICINE: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Currently, a very substantial number of practicing African-American physicians are

graduates of one medical school, Howard University College of Medicine,

Washington, DC, one of the three predominantly black schools. At one time, virtu-

ally all African-American medical students attended these schools. By the end of

World War II, one-third of medical schools were exclusively white and, as late as

1960, African-Americans were unable to gain admission to 12 schools. In 1968 the

AAMC strongly urged medical schools to begin to admit increased numbers of

minority students.

The three medical schools, Howard (Washington, DC), Meharry (Nashville,

Tennessee), and Morehouse (Atlanta, Georgia), continue to play a major role in training

the pool of minority medical students, admitting about 15% of all such students. From

the other 123 allopathic schools, six account for another 15%. Thus, nine schools cur-

rently accept about one-third of all underrepresented students.

The three traditionally black medical schools remain attractive to minority students

for a variety of reasons. Such schools tend to cost less than many predominantly white

institutions. They also provide more role models, having many African-Americans on

their faculties. Socialization problems, so common at nonminority schools, obviously do

not exist. These schools seem to carefully monitor academic performance and provide

assistance to their students, even those not at risk to fail. Thus, the three historically

black schools have retained their pivotal position in the education of underrepresented

minority physicians (even though they now contain a significant number of white stu-

dents among their student bodies).

DOORS ARE OPEN FOR MINORITIES

The academic medical community has responded in a positive manner to provide

greater opportunities for members of minority groups to secure admission. There are

intensive efforts to enroll minority group members: African-Americans, Native

Americans/Alaskan natives, Mexican Americans, mainland Puerto Ricans, Asians, or

Pacific Islanders. This policy has been effective, as reflected by the fact that, for

example, from 1990–95, minority group members, making up the first-year class,

increased to 2,000, or about 12%. This represents a significant increase over the less

than 5% representation about two decades earlier. Facilitating this process is the fact

that many schools have a specific person to deal with minority affairs. Thus, if you

are a member of a minority group, you should often address your inquiries to

"Director of Minority Affairs."

Opportunities for Minorities - Page 1