RE: Underrepresentation of Underrepresented Minorities in Academic Medicine

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Dear Sir:

As Chairpeople of the Underrepresented Minorities Committee for the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), we are grateful to Drs Merchant and Omary for this insightful article on the issues facing underrepresented minorities in academic medicine. We all agree this is a wonderful time for gastroenterology. We have unprecedented technology and medications to help a variety of gastrointestinal disorders. Yet there remains a gap that we seem unable to fill to reach some of the neediest patients. In part, this gap is created by cultural differences that separate the physicians from their patients. As Drs Merchant and Omary highlighted, minority patients prefer to see doctors who are similar in race and ethnicity and possibly share their same language. Those are all natural instincts. Because in gastroenterology we have relatively few minorities in advanced positions within academia, it is hard for young minority students and residents to identify with role models to inspire them to go into gastroenterology.

One of the common laments is the fact that the pipeline does not have sufficient minority physicians to cultivate to be the next leaders in gastroenterology. To that end, the AGA and the ASGE are partnering to expand a program to highlight the joys of being a gastroenterologist to minority medical students and internal medicine residents. Only by getting out there and spreading the word about the great opportunities in gastroenterology are we going to make any inroads into increasing the pipeline of minority students coming into gastroenterology. We welcome the support of anyone interested in participating.

The payoff from this experiment will be several years in coming, but once it does it will have been worth the investment.