Editorials15 June 2010
    Author, Article and Disclosure Information

    In this issue, Mullan and colleagues (1) propose a new “social mission” metric by which to assess and rank medical schools. In their rationale for proposing such a metric, they call attention to 2 gaps: one between the supply of and the demand for physicians providing primary health care to underserved populations, and the other between the percentage of the workforce comprising physicians from racial and ethnic minority groups that are underrepresented in medicine and the percentage of the population comprising these same minority groups. Because data (2, 3) suggest that underrepresented minority physicians provide more care to underrepresented minority ...

    References

    • 1. Mullan F Chen C Petterson S Kolsky G Spagnola M The social mission of medical education: ranking the schools. Ann Intern Med2010;152:804-11. LinkGoogle Scholar
    • 2. Council on Graduate Medical EducationMinorities in Medicine: An Ethnic and Cultural Challenge for Physician Training, An Update. Council on Graduate Medical Education Seventeenth Report. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2005. Google Scholar
    • 3. Komaromy M Grumbach K Drake M Vranizan K Lurie N Keane D et alThe role of black and Hispanic physicians in providing health care for underserved populations. N Engl J Med1996;334:1305-10. [PMID: 8609949] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 4. Freeman J Ferrer RL Greiner KA Viewpoint: developing a physician workforce for America's disadvantaged. Acad Med2007;82:133-8. [PMID: 17264689] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 5. Association of American Medical CollegesDiversity in the Physician Workforce: Facts and Figure 2006. Washington, DC: Assoc American Med Colleges; 2006. Google Scholar
    • 6. Sullivan LW Suez Mittman I The state of diversity in the health professions a century after Flexner. Acad Med2010;85:246-53. [PMID: 20107349] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 7. Grumbach K Mendoza R Disparities in human resources: addressing the lack of diversity in the health professions. Health Aff (Millwood)2008;27:413-22. [PMID: 18332497] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar
    • 8. Association of American Medical CollegesAssociation of American Medical Colleges Matriculating Student Questionnaire. Medical Education Division. Washington, DC: Assoc American Med Colleges; 2006. Google Scholar
    • 9. McGaghie WC Thompson JA America's best medical schools: a critique of the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Acad Med2001;76:985-92. [PMID: 11597837] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar