Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #99649

Richard L. Lichtenstein, PhD, Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, 109 S. Observatory, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, 734 936-1316, lichto@umich.edu

There has been a resurgence in the call for greater racial and ethnic diversity in the health workforce. Today, however, the rationale for increasing the percentage of people of color in fields like health management and policy is not based primarily upon social justice, civil rights, or fairness, but rather, upon the assertion that a diverse workforce is likely to enhance the effectiveness of health care organizations. Greater diversity in health management and policy training programs will also have positive effects on all students. This paper has 3 purposes: to discuss the importance of diversity in health management and policy training programs; to describe the University of Michigan's Summer Enrichment Program (SEP), a program to increase the number of students of color who receive graduate training in health management and policy; and to report the results of a survey of SEP alumni, conducted after the program's 15th year, which describe the graduate school and career experiences of 167 SEP alumni. Survey results indicated that the SEP was very successful in enlarging the pool of students of color who attended graduate programs in health management and policy and who worked in the field. 74% of all respondents were African-American. 85% of post-baccalaureate respondents applied to graduate school. Of these, 41% applied to graduate programs in health management and policy, 16% applied to other programs in public health and 14% applied to medical school. The program was also very effective in increasing the number of students of color who enrolled in the University of Michigan's health management program, with 79% of those who enrolled in such programs attending Michigan. The implications of the Michigan experience for other public health training programs and the impact of recent Supreme Court affirmative action decisions for "minority recruiting programs" are also discussed.

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