Minorities and Women Underrepresented in Medical Specialties

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Minorities, and women are underrepresented in many medical specialties, according to a new study—Fox Health reports.

In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers looked at the number of women and minorities (Hispanic and black) who graduated in 2012.

“Medical schools have been trying to increase the diversity of their students, with perhaps the assumption that this increased diversity will translate downstream to all specialties,” Dr. Curtiland Deville of John Hopkins University in Baltimore told Reuters.

But, despite these efforts there still exist “disproportionate underrepresentation of women and minorities,” especially in the areas of radiology, orthopedics and otolaryngology.

Based on public data, researchers determined that out of 16,835 medical school graduates in 2012 only 15 percent were minority (7 percent Hispanic 7 percent black) 48 percent were women.

Of the current 688,468 practicing physicians only 9 percent “were members of underrepresented minorities, including 5 percent who were Hispanic and 4 percent who were black.”

“Diversifying the physician workforce may be key to addressing health disparities and inequities, Dr. Deville wrote in an email to Fox Health.