“While many initiatives and programs supported by foundations, medical schools, and government have contributed to increasing diversity in the physician pipeline, the number of applicants from one major demographic group—black males—has not increased above the number from 1978. That year, 1,410 black males applied to medical school, and in 2014, just 1,337 applied.”
-Altering the Course: Black Males in Medicine
In an important new study produced by the National Medical Association (NMA), which recently held its annual conference in Detroit for the first time in more than 30 years, the alarming shortage of young black male doctors is examined in depth. The results of the study, entitled Altering the Course: Black Males in Medicine, portrays a landscape that is just as discouraging to young black males who might be interested in becoming a doctor as it is in need of those young doctors.
The dilemma is what to do to solve the problem. Because with the well-documented problems experienced by African Americans in navigating the health care system – and with health care issues in general – the critical need for better health care in the Black community, and having that health care delivered by more Black doctors, is more critically important than ever.
The NMA is an organization comprised of thousands of African American physicians, academicians, and scientists representing every medical specialty. Each year the group convenes to participate in the scholarly exchange of medical advances and to discuss health policy priorities, and to share experience through networking opportunities.
The convention focused on issues such as the implications of the Affordable Health Care Act and how it will affect healthcare in African American communities across the United States. According to Detroit physician Lonnie Joe, M.D., who is an NMA and Auxiliary member, this particular discussion was relevant because of its political ramifications. But the topic of the need for more Black male doctors – and why the shortage exists – drew a capacity crowd on Monday morning, showing there was at least an equal amount of interest in the results of the recent study of that subject as well.
From the report:
“We’re moving toward separate and unequal educational opportunities, which Brown v. Board of Education attempted to address. And so, again, kids of color are more likely to be in low-performing schools that are under-resourced—you have issues of physical infrastructure crumbling, outdated textbooks, teachers not credentialed to teach in the subjects that they’re teaching. All of these problems compound, and I suspect that they have a disproportionate impact on males of color, particularly black boys of color.”
—Brian Smedley, PhD
The issue of the disproportionate amount of Black males forced to attend sub-standard schools was identified as a major roadblock to them having access to the sort of educational tools they would need to perform on an even par with their peers in medical school. It also creates a problem of self-esteem, because these students most often are well aware that the education they are receiving is not good enough.
“The aspirations of African-American boys and girls and youth of color are just as high, if not higher, than [those of] kids from other racial and ethnic groups. … African-American boys are just as likely to say … they want to do well, they want to graduate from high school, they want to have a wonderful career. I would guess that if you looked early on, you could probably find as many African-American boys … who would say they want to go on to be doctors or physicians. I think there’s just so much that impedes that process prior to them getting there.”
—Malcolm Woodland, PhD
The other large barrier is money.
“Interviewees (for the report) noted that the costs of medical school and debt may often be a deterrent to African-Americans pursuing medicine as a career, as it is for many other prospective medical students.The general perception is that many talented young black men may not have the financial resources to attend medical school or be able to access information about scholarships and other funding support.
“Interviewees noted that within medicine, there is a limited pool of scholarships for aspiring physicians and a huge need for improved financing for medical education. This could include expanding programs that offer free tuition in exchange for service and that enhance programs like the National Health Service Corps.”
Dr. Louis Sullivan, former Secretary for the Dept. of Health and Human Services, agrees that the lack of financial resources can be a major impediment to attracting more black males to apply. The prospect of being saddled with more than a quarter million dollars in school loan debt is enough to scare anyone, but considering that many young Black males come from low-income families, this alone is like a glaring red alarm.
“The high cost of higher education … means not only [for] medical school or dental school or other health profession schools, but for college preceding that. And that’s important because such a high percentage of minority students come from … low- income families, so the financial barriers that are experienced by students of color are, on average, much more severe than those faced by white students. And coupled with that are inadequate financial aid programs for students, in college and in the health professions. I’m referring to the reality that there are relatively few scholarships as compared to the situation prior to the mid-’70s.”
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