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Marginally more minority lecturers at medical schools

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American researchers say data gathered from medical schools across the country show that the percentage of minority faculty members increased from 6.8% to 8% between 2000 and 2010. Minorities include blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Over the same period, the percentage of newly hired minority faculty members increased from 9.4% to 12.1%. The percentage of newly promoted minority faculty members increased from 6.3% to 7.9%.

Of 124 eligible schools, 29% had a minority faculty development programme in 2010. Those schools had a similar increase in the percentage of minority faculty members – from 6.5% in 2000 to 7.4% in 2010.

Little increase in representation

After adjusting for faculty and school characteristics, the researchers concluded that minority faculty development programmes were not associated with increases in minority recruitment or promotion.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Study author Dr James Guevara of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said: “The findings demonstrate that faculty members who are underrepresented in medicine, relative to the general population, have seen little increase in ... representation across all schools during this time."

“What is interesting is that the prevalence of individuals of minority status in the general population increased to more than 30% by 2010."

More information


The American Medical Association has more about medical school.

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