A while ago I posted about the medical school training leading one to be racially biased: Implicit Bias: What Has Medical School Done to Me?
Well yesterday, I received an article from my friend on CNN in regards to this very topic. Click on the title to see the article: Medical Students Show Racial Bias.
Update: And it’s not just medical students. The AMA has a history of being racist, which is why the National Medical Association (the organization from which SNMA branched out) was created. Check out this article on MSNBC (thanks Jeff): AMA Apoligizes to black doctors for racism. An interesting portion of the article reminded me of why I am so dedicated to the SNMA and trying to increase outreach to minority medical students:
“While blacks represent roughly 13 percent of the U.S. population, less than 3 percent of the nation’s 1 million doctors and medical students are black, Adams noted. And according to 2006 data on AMA’s Web site, less than 2 percent of AMA members and voting delegates are black.“
Any thoughts?
It’s quite disheartening to see how hard this system tries to exclude us from medicine, but its uplifting to know that people like you and organizations like snma do so much to make sure that af-am students and physicians are still able to have our voices heard.
I too am the sole student in my class and have already voiced my frustrations to our schools admissions committee. Hopefully the more we speak up, the more they will understand our value, and in a few years we can see the numbers rise in and in front of the classroom.
With the upcoming election, there are so many people talking about just how far we have come as a country. This is a shocking example that less progress has been made than people would like to admit.