UC strives to increase faculty diversity in health sciences
June 14, 2010 •
The Diversity Pipeline Initiative is helping UC reach out to bright female students and encourage them to pursue careers as faculty in the health sciences. The systemwide initiative, which had its fourth annual conference in April, is one example of UC’s efforts to increase diversity in the health professions.
At UC health professional schools, just 24 percent of faculty are women and only 5 percent of faculty are underrepresented minorities. The picture is similar nationwide and has changed little in two decades.
But the population of UC medical school students is becoming increasingly diverse with gains in underrepresented minorities. Those gains are in part due to UC’s PRIME program aimed at training students to care for underserved communities. Increasing faculty diversity, a priority for UC leadership, is viewed as a way to attract students, advance research in areas such as health disparities and improve access to care among medically underserved populations. Read more here about the Diversity Pipeline Initiative and other UC efforts to increase representation of women and people of color in the health sciences.
