Share this article:
Print

Surgeon General says the nation needs more minority doctors

Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

by Wendy Rigby / KENS 5

Posted on December 14, 2009 at 3:58 PM

******

The new Surgeon General is calling for efforts to increase the number of minority physicians. San Antonio’s medical school is on the forefront of the push to get more Hispanics and African Americans to become doctors.

It’s a long road from medical student to doctor. Just ask the 900 students at the U.T. Health Science Center working hard to become physicians. Ronya Emory is in her fourth year with her eye on family practice.
 
“I knew I always wanted to be a doctor,” Emory said. “I love to serve people and I have a passion for science and medicine. It’s a perfect way to integrate both being a physician who serves the community.”
 
As an African American, Ronya is the exception rather than the rule. Most of the medical students in the country are white. Roughly 28% of the U.S. population is black or Hispanic, but only 6% of doctors are minorities, a figure that hasn’t changed in a century.
 
“It’s shocking,” stated Dr. Carlos Jaen, chairman of Family & Community Medicine at UTHSC. “And it’s unacceptable from my perspective.”
 
Jaen says more minority doctors would translate into better overall care. “You learn deeply about a culture,” he explained, “a learning that goes beyond just knowing the language.”
 
Jaen said too often, minority high school and college students are told they aren’t medical school material, or that they could never afford it, neither of which is necessarily true.
 
The U.T. Health Science Center is one of the top three schools in the country for admitting minority students, and still, they only make up 18% of the future physicians who go to school here.
 
Emory admits her choice has required great commitment. But she’s convinced it will pay off for her and her patients down the road. “Oh, it’s definitely hard,” she commented. “But my grandmother told me a long time ago that anything worth having is hard work.”
 
Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin says the nation has to get more minorities in medical school or there will be “a growing ethnic and racial disconnect between those who receive care and those who provide care.”

Share this article:
Print

To add a comment, please register or login.

Leave your comment
1000 characters remaining

Submit

We welcome your comments on this story's topic. Off-topic comments, personal attacks, and inappropriate language may be flagged and removed, and comment privileges blocked, per our Terms of Service. Thanks for keeping the comments space respectful.

Privacy Policy

HTML is not allowed.

navigator said on December 14, 2009 at 9:15 PM

Here we go again. When will we ever learn? Hispanics are not minorities. Hispanics are white. Hispanics are to Latin countries as Anglos are to the United States. Both are descendants of Europe. Anglos from England, Hispanics from Spain. Please stop doing a deservice to the real minorities, the truly brown skinned natives that were deprived of their homelands by gun wielding Anglos and Hispanics.

boppinsa said on December 14, 2009 at 10:07 PM

the term minority has become a catchall for all those who are part of affirmative action. i notice there was no mention of how many female students attend uthsc. females were chattel which webster's defines as, "1 : an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate and things (as buildings) connected with real property 2 : slave, bondman." in fact, black men were given the right to vote before females of any race. yet, women of all races have managed to overcome that while men who are part of affirmative action have sat on their butts feeling sorry for themselves. if you really want to look at minorities, let's talk about asians. they excell in all areas regardless of their sex. i don't care what race or sex a doctor is. i just don't want them getting a free ride if they can't carry the grades. i don't want a doctor who isn't competent and committed.