Enhancing the Pipeline for a Diverse Workforce

The lack of diversity in the physician workforce is a multifactorial problem. From elementary school through college, students from minority or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds achieve despite attending underresourced schools, fac-ing low expectations from peers and teachers, and overcoming unconscious biases among decision makers. These and other obstacles lead to significant attrition of talent by the time cohorts prepare to apply to medical school. Pipeline initiatives that inspire and prepare applicants from groups underrepresented in medicine are needed to swell the ranks of diverse individuals entering our profession. Many informal "exposure" programs and formal pipeline programs are active across the nation and must proliferate and be supported while we continue to work to eliminate bias in the selection processes. Medicine will not reach its full potential until we welcome and leverage talent from all backgrounds and communities.