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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Shana L. Lassiter, MA and Dennis A. Mitchell, DDS, MPH. College of Dental Medicine, Columbia University, Office of Diversity & Multicultural Affairs, 630 W. 168th Street, P&S Box 20, New York, NY 10032, 212-342-1697, sll2108@columbia.edu

Several recent publications have highlighted the disparities in oral and systemic health between our nation's most vulnerable populations, namely economically disadvantaged and ethnic/racial minority populations, and their more affluent, White counterparts. One aspect of the solution to this troubling problem is the improvement of workforce diversity in the health professions, particularly medicine, dentistry, and public health. A commitment to increasing workforce diversity necessitates a commitment to diversifying the academic institutions that are educating our health professionals. African-Americans, Hispanics and Native-Americans, collectively known as underrepresented minorities (URMs), are poorly represented among the ranks of medical, dental, and doctoral-level public health faculty. The presence of supportive URM faculty is important for the effective recruitment and retention of URM health professions students, who are generally more willing than their non-minority peers to provide care to underserved populations. The proposed poster will highlight the importance of URM faculty recruitment and retention to the challenge of eliminating health disparities within our nation. Specifically, faculty demographic data from medical, dental, and public health academic institutions will be presented, illustrating the current state of diversity within these institutions. The relationship between URM faculty retention and improved workforce diversity within the health professions will also be discussed. Lastly, recommendations for academic institutions committed to faculty diversification will be presented.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Assess the level of diversity among the nation’s medical, dental and public health faculties.
• Recognize the relationship between improved diversity within health professions faculties and the reduction of health disparities in our nation.
• Discuss recommendations for improving faculty diversity within the health professions.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered