Diversity Dynamics — Challenges to a Representative U.S. Medical Workforce

Abstract

In an era when the proportion of the U.S. population that is nonwhite has surged to 37%, two notable trends are shaping the composition of the physician workforce: the “overwhelming majority” of medical school graduates continue to be white,¹ and the number of black men completing medical school has been trending downward since 1997.² By comparison, medical school graduates of Hispanic and Asian descent have increased in number and as a percentage of total graduates. Although the Obama administration trumpets its support for improving opportunities for minority young people — and specifically black men — it has dismayed medical educators for 3 years running by proposing elimination of the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), which aims to increase diversity in the health professions.