Creating a Diverse Physician Workforce Through Training in Diversity, Bias, and Selection: An Innovative Approach to Preparing Medical Students as Future Academic Leaders

Tara G Edmonds; F Shawn Galin; Christina J Grabowski

doi:10.1007/s40670-023-01927-4

Creating a Diverse Physician Workforce Through Training in Diversity, Bias, and Selection: An Innovative Approach to Preparing Medical Students as Future Academic Leaders

Med Sci Educ. 2023 Oct 31;33(6):1465-1471. doi: 10.1007/s40670-023-01927-4. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Tara G Edmonds^{1

2}, F Shawn Galin^{1

2

3}, Christina J Grabowski²

Affiliations

¹ University of Alabama at Birmingham Office of Standardized Patient Education, Birmingham, AL USA.
² Department of Medical Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL USA.
³ Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL USA.

Abstract

Medical students are the future of academic medicine. They will serve as admissions committee members, deans, and program directors with responsibility for selecting future physicians. At the same time, schools and programs are working to diversify the physician workforce to care for diverse patient populations. At UAB Heersink School of Medicine, we developed an elective course, Holistic Review: Creating a Mission-Driven Physician Workforce, to train learners in bias, diversity, and data-informed decision-making. Students applied lessons to the admissions process by participating in application screening and multiple-mini interview rating. Student reflections demonstrated course applicability for careers in medicine and beyond.

Keywords: Bias; Diversity; Holistic review; Medical education; Mission; Selection.