Opportunities for Students Underrepresented in Medicine
The number of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American health professionals, particularly physicians, is not representative of the overall population in the United States. Today, these groups make up 25% of the US population, but are only 12% of the medical student body. For this reason, all health profession schools are very interested in increasing the number of qualified applicants from among these groups.
A number of academic enrichment and scholarship opportunities are available for students in under-represented groups; links to a sampling of such programs can be found below. There is also information about many more programs available in the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, as well as individualized support from Dean Fukawa-Connelly.
- AspiringDocs.org - Learn from mentors, gain access to information, and join an online community of students from underrepresented groups who are interested in medicine in this site sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
- Summer Medical and Dental Programs - these free summer programs at US dental and medical schools are geared toward first- and second-year pre-medical and pre-dental students who are interested in issues facing underserved communities. They provide free room and board, and intensive health professional school preparation in the form of mentoring, workshops, academic programs, and other resources.
- Minority Access to Research Careers Summer Research Programs - These programs are geared toward introducing students from racial and ethnic minority groups to the world of research by providing funding to undergraduate institutions, which will then bring in students for summer research projects. An online database may become available, but until then, a google search of MARC summer research 2008 should bring up a list of programs.