Physician Diversity
Program teams OU-COM with


By Dennis Fiely
July 7, 2009
A new partnership
between OhioHealth and the Ohio University College
of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) provides minority
medical students early and sustained exposure to
professional practices within the OhioHealth
system.
The Physician
Diversity Scholars Program matches first-year
Hispanic and African-American students with
OhioHealth physicians from similar backgrounds in a
series of mentoring activities intended to serve as
a gateway to careers with OhioHealth.
The four-year
program requires at least three shadowing, community
service or professional organization events per
semester during the first two years of medical
school, followed by a more customized relationship,
as led by the mentors, during their third- and
fourth-year clinical rotations, when students must
select at least three OhioHealth rotations.
OhioHealth pays
each of its scholars a $500 stipend each academic
year to cover expenses. After graduation, each
scholar is offered a loan repayment of $10,000 a
year for each year they participate in an OhioHealth
residency.
Kristin Peoples,
OMS I,
already has attended two professional conferences
with her mentor, Geraldine Urse, D.O. (’93),
FACOFP, and has made arrangements this summer to
assist Urse with patient histories and physical
exams at Doctors Hospital Family Practice Center in
Grove City.
“The loan repayment
is a major benefit, but more important to me was the
opportunity to gain real-world experience and build
a long-term relationship with Dr. Urse, who can help
guide me through my career,” Peoples said.
Of the 15
first-year students eligible for the program, 13
applied and eight were accepted, based on essays
they wrote about their career aspirations and
commitment to community service.
“The response has
been overwhelming,” said Colette McLemore,
assistant director of multicultural programs. “I’ve
never seen a program like this, and students jumped
at the chance to participate. These mentors can
introduce them to Columbus, give them a feel for
what it’s like to be a physician and show them how
they can best serve their patients and the
community.”
The program
represents a proactive response from OhioHealth to
address the shortage of minority physicians.
“This is a
forward-thinking initiative that offers unusual
educational opportunities for entry-level medical
school students and helps OhioHealth better meets
the needs of our multicultural community with a more
diversified medical staff,” said Bruce Vanderhoff,
M.D., chief medical officer of OhioHealth. “Our goal
is to establish a connection with first-year
students from the diverse pool at OU-COM and
encourage them to do their residencies with us.”
Of the nearly one
million nonfederal physicians in the United States,
two percent are African-American and three percent
are Hispanic, according to the Kaiser Family
Foundation. Ohio has 755 African-American and 413
Hispanic physicians.
“Everybody is
competing for these physicians from the same small
pool,” said David Sullivan, director of diversity
and inclusion at OhioHealth. “Our idea was to catch
these students early, before they made up their
minds about where they want to practice. We want the
demographic make-up of our employees to mirror that
of the community.”
With 26 percent of
its entering students from minority backgrounds,
OU-COM exceeds the national average. “One of the
reasons OhioHealth came to us was our outstanding
minority recruitment,” said John Schriner, Ph.D.,
director of admissions. “It’s one of the things we
pride ourselves on.”