Underrepresented Pharmacists

[inquirer89]

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I will be transferring to a historically black university this summer and was thinking about starting a pre-pharm club there. I am Asian myself, but I thought that I should take advantage of the opportunity and make one of the goals of the club to "increase awareness of the pharmacist position in underrepresented minorities."

Does this sound like a good idea? Does anyone know if there really are any underrepresented minorities in pharmacy (and if African Americas are among them)?

 

[devilpup]

I will be transferring to a historically black university this summer and was thinking about starting a pre-pharm club there. I am Asian myself, but I thought that I should take advantage of the opportunity and make one of the goals of the club to "increase awareness of the pharmacist position in underrepresented minorities."

Does this sound like a good idea? Does anyone know if there really are any underrepresented minorities in pharmacy (and if African Americas are among them)?

The number of underrepresented students enrolled in Pharmacy and Nursing schools has been increasing during the last 10 years. In 1991, the percentage of underrepresented minority students enrolled in U.S pharmacy schools was 11.5% and this increased to about 13.5% in 2002. The increase is mostly seen in Nursing, where in 1991 the percentage was 12%, and now it is well above 18%. Unfortunately, this is not the case in medical school admissions, where a historical peak was seen in 1997 (where the percentage was 15%) was thwarted in the anti affirmative action movement of the 90's, and now it is roughly 14% nationally. BTW, the data was taken from Bodenheimer's health policy book.

Creating a campus org. aimed at increasing awareness of these issues is a great idea.
Suerte!

 

[inquirer89]

Devilpup, thank you very much for your reply. I'll look more into those statistics as I do research for my club.