Doctors, nurses, and surgeons are all considered heroes of the community. Saving lives, improving patients’ health and treating diseases are all part of their duty as a first responder in the medical field. Over the years, minority representation in med schools have decreased and even if many minorities get into these schools, they end up dropping before getting a higher degree or making it into hospitals or private practices. Bridget A. Walsh, who has studied in the University of Nevada has written many articles and co-written articles about topics like underrepresented students, education and health and safety, shows the difference between minority and white students during medical school. According to Bridget Walsh, many students of color not only struggle with the workload like other non minority students, but also struggle with dealing with racism and ‘feeling like foreigners’ during medical school (Walsh). Mainly Blacks, Hispanics and Latinos are underrepresented and struggle to keep up with the expectations of medical schools and practices leading them to drop out or not make it to higher levels of medical study. Due to the lack of resources in local towns and areas many minorities come from, many are not required to get a high degree in medical school to work in local hospitals since they have less resources or they don't have good and beneficial programs for minority students in the town to help them get into schools with good medical programs. This inclines more minority students to drop since higher education is not needed for local hospitals. One way to help ensure that more minority students get the chance to receive higher degrees and certifications is by the government funding local medical programs to lower income minority students to help give ethnic minority students a better chance at excelling in medical schools and help increase the diversity in medical schools. 

Many Black and Latino students have less opportunities to excel in medical schools due to the disadvantages they have compared to White students. Densie Dawkins, who has a higher education in human resources management and adult education and has held many positions in state funded programs, grant funded agencies and health disparity programs, shows that many minority students go through problems that many non minority students do not have to go through. According to Dawkins, Black and Latino students are more likely to not have health insurance compared to White applicants making it harder for minorities to stay in medical schools and get a higher education because of the “requirements for proof of health insurance at admission” (Dawkins). The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non profit organization that focuses on national health issues and the U.S. role in global health issues. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, statistics show that 20% of Latino applicants are uninsured, 11.4% of Black applicants are uninsured while 7.8% of  White applicants are uninsured (Dawkins). Since many minority applicants are not able to afford health insurance, it makes it more difficult for them to carry on with their medical programs which decreases the amount of diversity in the medical field. With minority students lacking health insurance and not being able to get into medical schools, it lowers their chances of being able to get into medical schools and the medical field.  Even when minorities get accepted into medical schools and have the opportunity to continue into the medical field, many students feel the sense to drop out and not continue their studies. Dr. Ulviye Isik has done PhD research on motivation of minority students in medical education and is a researcher at the USO which focuses on diversity and inclusiveness among students for a better and safer learning environment. According to Dr. Ulviye Isik, minority students feel that they do not belong in the medical field and many minorities drop out of medical school since they feel isolated and experience discrimination (Isik). Tons of discrimination and lack of motivation that minority students feel makes it harder for them to continue through their education and persist through the racism especially without a strong support system. Minority students feeling like they have to work ten times harder just to be treated the same as non minority students demotivates them and makes minority students feel more inclined to drop out of medical school. Dr. Stephen Keith has an M.D. degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and completed his residency of pediatrics and received a M.S degree in public health. He also was the assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UCLA and has been many other elected officials for different companies and colleges relating to health and medicine. According to Dr. Stephen Keith, many minorities live in low income towns which does not require them to get a higher degree to work in local hospitals leaving “physicians who are less well trained to treat the poor and members of minority groups” (Keith). With poorer towns not needing high levels of training and practice, many minorities are more inclined to drop out of medical school to start working in local hospitals. This decreases the amount of diversity in medical schools and leaves less trained health professionals to help the poor and minority groups. Kendall M. Campbell served as an Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion and Director of their Research Group for Underrepresented Minorities in Academic Medicine in the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine. According to Dr. Campbell, minority students and faculty “have more clinical assignments” and “receive less mentorship” (Campbell). With the extra workload minorities have, it makes it harder for them to become better trained and leveled with their non-minority peers. It decreases their chances in becoming a better physician and leads them to drop out sooner than a non minority student would. 

Many medical schools lack diversity which leaves every med-school wanting to increase the amount of minority students they have enrolled. Valarie Black is a professor at West Virginia University that focuses on health care law and has worked as an ethic research associate for the American Medical Association. According to Valarie Blake, 60% of medical student enrollment are Caucasian, 13% are African American, 8% are Latino/Hispanic and 20% are Asian (Blake). Also according to Valerie Blake, in medical schools, affirmative action helps produce ‘a diverse physician workforce in the U.S.’ and helps ‘foster cultural sensitivity in all physicians with an inclusive educational environment’ (Blake). To increase diversity the use of affirmative action can be useful to help minority students enroll in medical school. It would allow for more minorities like Latinos/Hispanics, African Americans  and Blacks to be represented in medical schools allowing them to be more comfortable in the school environment. This would also help them feel more included and united instead of isolated and like a foreigner. However, although this seems like a great idea, it would not be the best solution because of the fact it would always be hurting a certain racial group. Even though it would be helping minorities such as Blacks, Hispanics and African Americans, it would be hurting Asian Americans. Anemona Hartocollis is a national correspondent and reporter for The New York Times and covers stories about health and hospitals. Anemona Hartocollis includes a quote from Alan Dershowits, a Harvard law professor and lawyer, speaking out on how affirmative action ‘discriminating against Asians in order to make room for other minorities doesn’t seem right as a matter of principle’ (Hartocollis). Even if medical schools relied more on affirmative action to accept more minorities, it would still be hurting certain minority groups such as Asian Americans. It will always be seen as harming one group of minorities even if it helps other groups of minorities. Ultimately affirmative action overall would not help generate the best results for an increase of diversity in medical schools since it would also be decreasing the amount of other minority groups such as Asian American representation in medical schools. 

Instead of using affirmative action to increase diversity in medical schools and education, the government should fund local medical and health programs to lower income minority high school towns. This will help increase minorities’ foundation of understanding the medical procedures and skills. This can help low income minorities get a sense of medical school and keep them leveled with higher income majority students. James Guveara, MD, MPH is a Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He also was a founding member of the PolicyLab and his research mainly includes government agencies and has received many awards regarding health and research. According to James Guveara, programs and dedicated resources should be offered to schools for students of color (Guveara). Programs specifically designed to help underrepresented minorities who want to go to medical schools can help prepare them for medical school. By exposing young adults to medicine and health issues, it can increase their knowledge and passion for going into the medical field leading them to apply to medical schools. By doing so, they would already have a solid foundation and leg up from a program specializing in minorities helping them get into medical school. This will increase the amount of diversity medical schools have. The Biomedical Research Internship Program for minority students is implemented by the Cincinnati Children’s hospital. The Cincinnati Children’s hospital is ranked number 1 in Ohio state and number 3 in the nation as one of U.S. best children’s hospitals rankings. According to the Cincinnati Children’s hospital, The Biomedical Research Internship for Minority Students helps ‘involve minority students traditionally underrepresented in biomedical careers’ and pushes them to pursue their biomedical research careers (Cincinnati Children’s hospital). Programs like this are influential to many underrepresented groups since it allows them to have a high qualifying program to impress medical schools. By the government implementing these programs throughout the nation, it can greatly benefit minorities around the country. Since this program is in the Cincinnati area, only students in that area are given the opportunity for achieving higher qualifications. If the government funds programs like these all over the country, not only will students in Cincinnati benefit, minority students all over the nation will be able to benefit and get into medical schools more easily. To increase diversity in medical schools, minority students fresh out of high school need to be exposed to medical knowledge to increase their chances of being accepted into medical schools. By doing this, the diversity rate in medical schools will rise and become more inclusive. 

The lack of diversity in medical schools can greatly affect the amount of minorities who are willing to persist through medical schools. With many minority students lacking the support system or motivation to go through with medical schools, many end up dropping out before reaching a higher degree because they feel discriminated against or isolated. In order to increase diversity in medical schools and limit the amount of minority students that drop out, the government should go back to the root problem which is in college and high school. By implementing programs that specifically benefit newly graduated high school minority students and new college students, minorities will be able to advance their knowledge and skills before they apply to medical schools. Affirmative action can only benefit one racial group while hurting another. In order for medical schools to be diverse to all groups of people, having minority programs specifically designed on helping them prosper and learn as individuals in the medical field before medical school is crucial by helping them get in and succeed. Programs like the Biomedical Research Internship for Minority Students need to be implemented all over the nation to increase diversity in many different schools and areas. 

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