An American Crisis: the Lack of Black Men in Medicine
Open accessAbstract
The current state of diversity within the US medical workforce does not reflect representative numbers of the Black male population. Research data continues to reveal continuing trends in the areas of discrimination, incarceration, health disparities, and mortality with respect to Black males. The lack of increase in Black male medical school applications and matriculation contrasted by the continuing trends mentioned above illustrates that there is in fact an American crisis. We present here a call to arms, to address the need of African-American men in medicine. The absence of Black males in medical school represents an American crisis that threatens efforts to effectively address health disparities and excellence in clinical care. This disturbing trend is in need of more empirical examination of medical school data specifically in the areas of qualification barriers, race/ethnic classification, and the impact of diversity on quality of healthcare in the USA.
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Exposure to near-peer mentors is known to contribute to the success of socioeconomically disadvantaged and URM students pursuing health care careers.
“In addition, exposure to near-peer mentors is known to contribute to the success of socioeconomically disadvantaged and URM students pursuing health care careers.9,15”
From Impact of the Bronx Community Health Leaders Program for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Prehealth Students (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
In the AAMC Report section (page not provided), the paper says supportive networks aid Black male students’ academic success and that Black physician role models can increase interest in medical careers. It does not specifically address near-peer mentors or establish this benefit for socioeconomically disadvantaged and URM students broadly across health care careers. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLongitudinal mentorship is known to be important for the persistence and success of URM students in the prehealth path.
“This longitudinal mentorship component is known to be important for the persistence and success of URM students in the prehealth path”
From Impact of the Bronx Community Health Leaders Program for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Prehealth Students (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
The “AAMC Report” section (page unavailable) says supportive networks are essential to academic success for Black male students and that Black physician role models can increase interest in medicine. It does not establish that longitudinal mentorship improves persistence and success across URM students on a prehealth path. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLongitudinal mentorship has been recommended as a critical element needed to address the national crisis of lack of black men in medicine.
“and has been recommended a critical element needed to address the national crisis of lack of black men in medicine.9,26,27”
From Impact of the Bronx Community Health Leaders Program for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Prehealth Students (2021) · cites this paper as [9]
In “The Decline in the Number of Black Male Medical Doctors > Aamc Report” (page unavailable), the paper calls supportive networks essential to academic success and says Black males need Black physician role models. It does not specifically recommend longitudinal mentorship or identify it as a critical element for addressing the national crisis. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Research works printed but not linked: 7
- [5]Feroe A Loebs S 2015 Reducing Health Disparities through the 2015 MCAT: A Bold Goal Requiring On-going Assessment Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice 8 1 Spring 2015
- [6]Garces LM Mickey-Pabello D 2015 Racial Diversity in the Medical Profession: The Impact of Affirmative Action Bans on Underrepresented Student of Color Matriculation in Medical Schools The Journal of Higher Education 86 2 264 294 10.1353/jhe.2015.0009 26052161 PMC4454423 · DOI
- [7]Laurencin C 2014 Diversity 5.0: A Way Forward. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 1 2 67 68
- [8]Martin SA Harris K Jack BW The Health of Young African American Men JAMA 2015 313 1415 1416 10.1001/jama.2015.2258 25751164 · DOI
- [9]Smedley BD Stith AY Colburn L Institute of Medicine (US) The Right Thing to Do, The Smart Thing to Do: Enhancing Diversity in the Health Professions: Summary of the Symposium on Diversity in Health Professions in Honor of Herbert W.Nickens, M.D Washington (DC) National Academies Press (US) 2001 Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Physicians: An Intervention to Address Health Disparities? Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223632/ 25057572
- [10]Thomas B Manusov EG Wang A Livingston H 2011 Contributors of black men's success in admission to and graduation from medical school Academic Medicine 86 7 892 900 21617511
- [11]Washington HA Baker RB Olakanmi O 2009 Segregation, Civil Rights, and Health Disparities: The Legacy of African American Physicians and Organized Medicine, 1910-1968 J Natl Med Assoc 2009 101 513 527 19585919
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Robles, J., Qadeer, R., Reyes Adames, T., & Naqvi, Z. (2021) · Health Equity · doi:10.1089/heq.2021.0065 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Laurencin, C. T., & Murray, M.
- Affiliations
- UConn Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Laurencin, Cato T.
- ORCID
- Laurencin, Cato T.
- Venue
- Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
- Published
- 2017-05-22
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 317-321
- ISSN
- 2196-8837 (ISSN-L)
- 2197-3792
- PMC
- PMC5909952
- OpenAlex
- W2619759561
- Cited by
- 102
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 14.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Diversity and Career in Medicine
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Cultural Competency in Health Care
- Keywords
- medical workforce diversity, medical school admissions, African American men, health disparities, racial discrimination, incarceration, mortality, quality of care, underrepresentation
- MeSH terms
- Black or African American, Health Workforce, Humans, Male, Physicians, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Cultural Diversity, Culturally Competent Care
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