JSNMA Race & Medicine: Diversifying the Face of Medicine

We are all well aware of the disparities present in our current medical system, especially among minorities. Traditionally, medicine and medical education have largely focused on understanding disease processes and one's ability to recognize the "zebras" of diagnoses however understanding the culture and values of our patients can play a significant role in health outcomes. Minorities are largely underrepresented among medical professionals. The AAMC numbers from 2015 stated that while African-Americans comprise 13% of the population they make up just 4% of U.S. physicians. Hispanics make up 14% of the U.S. population however only represent 6% of U.S. physicians. Efforts to diversify medical schools to improve these unsatisfactory numbers are underway. How do you think medical schools are faring? How can they improve further? We should remain proactive in encouraging academia to bring this issue to the forefront. Whether it is gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion it is important that the institution of medicine strives to represent the community it serves.