A dose of inspiration – ‘Black Men in White Coats’ – is just what the doctor ordered
The nation ’s medical schools have too few black male medical students. That’s the cold, hard reality according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which found that the number of black men enrolled in U.S. medical schools declined from 1978 to 2014 — from 542 to just 515.Now, theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a handful of other medical schools are aiming to change that dismal reality with an unprecedented video outreach campaign.“We have a responsibility as a medical school to welcome the best and brightest young people from an array of ethnicities and social backgrounds to consider a career in medicine,” said Dr. Lynn Gordon, senior associate dean for diversity affairs at the Geffen School of Medicine. “To do that, w e first must make them aware of the possibilities.”Enter “Black Men in White Coats. ”With video profiles of young black doctors, the campaign aims to inspire underrepresented minority students to consider becoming physicians. The UCLA videos will be prominently placed on the school ’s website, disseminated via social media and shared by the medical school’s community engagement groups, as well as other outreach groups affiliated with the school. The project is focused on black men because the total of black men enrolled in U.S. medical schools has actually fallen over the years, according to the 2015 AAMC report,Altering the Course, Black Males in Medicine (PDF). Further, among ethnic groups, the proportion o...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
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