Fueled by the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling that bans affirmative action in higher education, conservative lawmakers across the country have advanced their own state bans on diversity initiatives, especially those that might make students feel shame or guilt for past harms against people of color.
This effort encompasses medical schools.
Despite clear and persistent gaps between white and Black doctors – and recent efforts to reckon with racial disparities within the medical profession – lawmakers have tried to advance policies to prohibit diversity initiatives in medicine.
U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina introduced one such bill to restrict diversity initiatives. “American medical schools are no place for discrimination,” said Murphy, a Republican, in March 2024. “Diversity strengthens medicine, but not if it’s achieved through exclusionary practices … of prejudice and divisive ideology.”
But the gaps in racial representation in medicine go beyond a professional numbers game. Modern research shows that the lack of Black doctors helps explain why about 70% of Black people don’t trust their doctors, and why Black people tend to die younger than their white peers.
The evidence is clear: America needs more Black doctors.
To that end, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg pledged on Aug. 6, 2024, to donate US$600 million to four historically Black medical schools. The gifts to Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Charles Drew University of Medicine & Science are among the largest donations to any historically Black college or university. Xavier University, located in Louisiana, will also receive a $5 million grant to support its new medical school.
“This gift will empower new generations of Black doctors to create a healthier and more equitable future for our country,” Bloomberg said in a statement before the annual convention of the National Medical Association, an organization that advocates for Black physicians.
A limited landscape
According to a 2022 survey of 950,000 doctors by the Association of American Medical Colleges, 63.9% reported their ethnicity as white, and just 5.7% Black or African American. But according to 2023 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, Black people make up 13.6% of the population, while white people represent 58.9%.
Starting in 1906, the AMA has published directories of all qualified physicians in the U.S. These directories were created to be comprehensive records that excluded “quack” physicians and unqualified graduates of fraudulent medical schools.
Each physician’s record included a variety of details, including their place of practice and when and where they completed medical training.
Between 1906 and 1940, the AMA also insisted on publishing the race of Black doctors. Beside each entry appeared the label “col.” for “colored.”
Fueled by the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling that bans affirmative action in higher education, conservative lawmakers across the country have advanced their own state bans on diversity initiatives, especially those that might make students feel shame or guilt for past harms against people of color.
This effort encompasses medical schools.
Despite clear and persistent gaps between white and Black doctors – and recent efforts to reckon with racial disparities within the medical profession – lawmakers have tried to advance policies to prohibit diversity initiatives in medicine.
U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina introduced one such bill to restrict diversity initiatives. “American medical schools are no place for discrimination,” said Murphy, a Republican, in March 2024. “Diversity strengthens medicine, but not if it’s achieved through exclusionary practices … of prejudice and divisive ideology.”
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