APA joined a coalition of health professionals for diversity last month in support of continuing affirmative action in the nation's medical and allied health professions schools.

"Dismantling affirmative action now will have serious consequences for our nation's health," said Jordan Cohen, M.D., president of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) at a press briefing in Washington D.C. The AAMC organized the coalition of more than 30 health organizations representing physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health professionals. The coalition plans to initiate several public advocacy activities including voter education programs.

Cohen stressed that gender, racial, and ethnic diversity are key to an effective workforce of health care providers.

Panelist Louis Sullivan, M.D., president of Morehouse School of Medicine and former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services said, "Our nation has been well-served by the principle of equality of opportunity because physician representation by all segments of our society helps to ensure access to quality health care for all our citizens."

Research shows that minority patients, many of whom are poor, receive the highest levels of service from young physicians of the same race or ethnicity, according to the AAMC.

APA Deputy Medical Director Robert T.M. Phillips, M.D., Ph.D., expressed his delight to panel members that APA joined the coalition and remarked on the importance of healthy minds that are open to the concepts they articulated. "I am troubled when I think conceptually that the mind is indifferent to the need for diversity in the area of medicine and the health professions' delivery of services."

"There is a risk of perpetuating the most unhealthy behaviors seen in this nation; those that permit the seeds of racism, sexism, and indifference to mankind to grow," added Phillips.

Cohen emphasized that "Affirmative action remains an essential weapon to counter the persistent legacy of past discrimination. Prohibiting its use in admissions to higher education would be grossly unjust."

He referred to the Supreme Court's announcement in July that it would not review a lower court's decision that prohibits schools in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi from considering an applicant's race as a factor for admission. Moreover, last year the University of California Regents prohibited consideration of race, ethnicity, and gender in student admissions, hiring, and educational outreach activities, according to Cohen. Californians will vote on a ballot initiative in November that would make affirmative action illegal.

"Opponents have tried to make the argument that affirmative action results in less qualified professionals. They are wrong," remarked Cohen. He noted that only 5 percent of all African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and mainland Puerto Ricans admitted to medical school four years ago left school, mainly for nonacademic reasons.

Moreover, without affirmative action, said Sullivan "some of our most talented and nationally recognized African-American physicians might not be doctors today." To illustrate that point, he mentioned that American Medical Association Trustee Regina Benjamin, M.D., who was on the panel, received her medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham after completing a two-year program at Morehouse School of Medicine, which recruits minority students and emphasizes primary care to underserved populations. Benjamin is the first female African American to become an AMA Trustee and is considered one of the nation's leading young physicians, according to Sullivan.

Despite success stories such as Benjamin's, minority physicians are still underepresented. They make up only 8 percent of all U.S. physicians, whereas minority groups represent 26 percent of the population, said Sullivan. Moreover, minority groups are expected to grow to about 50 percent of the U.S. population by 2050.

Cohen stressed that affirmative action is only a short-term solution to ensuring a diverse health care workforce. Long-term efforts aimed at improving the quality of minority student education will increase the pool of minorities interested in and academically prepared for careers in medicine, nursing, dentistry, and other health professions, according to Cohen.

(Psychiatric News, September 6, 1996)