Race and gender inequalities in medicine and biomedical research

There is a critical need to develop initiatives aimed at expanding and diversifying the healthcare workforce, beginning with medical education. This chapter addresses racial and gender disparities in academic medicine and biomedical research. Racial and ethnic minorities and women remain underrepresented in medicine, biomedical research, and healthcare leadership. These disparities are national issues and have far-reaching effects which translate into significant educational and healthcare-delivery disparities. Research has shown that health care professionals from underserved backgrounds are more likely than others to work in underserved areas which would address current shortages in health professionals for the medically underserved. The authors describe their theory for the existence and persistence of these disparities. They offer evidence of these disparities while concluding with current initiatives to address these disparities, calling for innovative approaches to training underrepresented minorities and women as physicians and biomedical research scientists.