The underrepresented in graduate medical education and medical research

Abstract

There is a perception that the career options open to medical school graduates who are members of minority groups are restricted. This perception relates especially to those postgraduate medical training programs that have not traditionally encouraged or had significant minority participation. Data were therefore sought to determine whether this perception was well founded.Recent reports show the strikingly low numbers of minorities on medical school faculties and in administrative positions in spite of efforts to fill such positions. Information on the specialties of practicing minority physicians is limited, but accurate figures are available on the participation of minorities in various specialty postgraduate training programs. For instance, during recent years, 50 to 60 percent of all black residents have been trained in internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology.Further studies are needed to document or disprove the conception that minority physicians have less access than other physicians to certain careers in the delivery of health care and education. In the interim, efforts should be continued to encourage minority physicians not only to seek preparation for community primary care practice, but also for professional participation in academic careers of other specialties (and subspecialties), in biomedical and clinical research, and in health care administration. The ability to enter these diverse careers is most often determined by the opportunities available at the time of completion of medical school education. Therefore, those involved in graduate medical education should address the challenge of providing opportunities for the proportionate representation of minorities in all aspects of medical care and medical education.