Florida launches minority physician mentoring program

Physician leaders say students should be tapped early to try to interest them in becoming doctors.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Oct. 11, 2004.

As a child, Willie Newman, MD, had someone to look up to. He got to meet and talk to a black family doctor in his rural community who provided him with a glimpse of life as a minority physician.

He knew by third grade that he wanted to become a physician. And the interaction he had with the family doctor and other minority physicians he met during his youth strengthened that resolve.

"When I met these guys, it seemed like [being a black physician] was real," said Dr. Newman, an obstetrician-gynecologist near Orlando. "It's actually a big deal for kids to meet a doctor."

That's why Dr. Newman has joined other physicians in a new program designed to spark high school students' interest in pursuing careers in medicine. The Seminole County Physician Mentor Program in central Florida aims to increase the number of minority physicians by teaming minority students with doctors who serve as mentors, and who they hope will inspire those students, through words and fellowship, to become doctors.

Physician leaders say such mentoring efforts are popping up as the medical community pushes to reach potential minority physicians well before they pick a college major.

"It's important to get into schools early and get those kids interested in science. Then you try to develop that interest over time," said Kevin McKinney, MD, chair of the AMA's Minority Affairs Consortium and an endocrinologist in Galveston, Texas.

The Seminole County program started as a collaborative effort of the Seminole County Medical Society and the county's school system and hospitals. Last year, coordinators mailed letters to eight high schools, which then gathered names of students, primarily minorities, who would be a good fit, based on their academic abilities and interest in medicine. After more planning and some delays due to Florida hurricanes, a program orientation was held in mid-September.