Diversity In The Medical Field: A Case Study

Throughout my seventeen years of life, I’ve rarely seen a doctor that looks like me. Both African-American and female, that is. Dr. Rosario Zambrano, a Hispanic woman and my pediatrician, was with my mother when she gave birth to me. In Dr. Zambrano’s office I met for the first time, a doctor who looked like me, Dr. Angel Solomon. She is both African American and female. Through my seventeen years, I have seen only a handful of doctors that are underrepresented minorities in the field of medicine, which allowed me to believe that Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities were not welcomed in this field. This view was altered through my revelation that there may not be much diversity in the field of medicine as we speak, but one by one, statistics can be changed. My participation in Howard University’s Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) this summer only solidified my drive to …show more content…
Would it be extreme competitiveness to a fault, drowning in school work, flailing in a hospital environment I was thrown into, or any of the other scary scenes conjured in my over-imaginative mind? As I arrived on June 7th, I saw it would be nothing like that because HCOP was filled with amazing, intelligent, hard-workers with the same mindset, to advance diversity in the medical field as well as improve health care for the underserved. The atmosphere there, in one word, can be described as family. We were challenged, mentored by those who had been in the same position years before, and advised by those who had played a major role in the lives of others who are where we want to be. Me and the other scholars did not seek help primarily from the higher-ups, but from fellow peers. Whether a math problem, biological cycle (the Calvin Cycle fried my mind), electron configuration, or writing practice, we always had each other’s backs, because we all know our final goals and how hard it is for people like us to get