Diversity in the University of California Medical Schools

The majority of California's population is currently comprised of racial and ethnic minorities. It is projected that by 2025, these minority groups will make up roughly two-thirds of the state population (US Census Bureau, 2005

A diverse workforce that is able to meet the linguistic and cultural needs of their patients is crucial in combating health disparities among communities of color. These changes to healthcare not only promote greater physical well being in our communities but also a more robust economy.

Representing a New Majority:

The Greenlining Institute's "Representing a New Majority Report" is a three part study that demonstrates how the UC medical school system does not reflect the diverse demographics of California among their staff, faculty, and students. It also shows that the UC system is failing to train enough physicians of color to accommodate California's population.

The first report focuses on staff diversity and the decrease in minority representation with each successively higher career classification. Findings include:

Given current trends, diversity levels at the senior management level will never reflect the demographics of California.

African American representation in the UC medical system only reflects California demographics at the lowest career level.

Native Americans are not only underrepresented, but representation is declining at all levels of employment in the UC medical system.

Latinos are underrepresented at all levels of employment

Although Asian and Pacific Islanders are seen as adequately represented, there is no data disaggregating different ethnicities.

The second report explores the diversity among professors of color and the disparities in rank within the UC system. Key findings:

African American representation in UC medical school faculty has actually decreased.

Native Americans are an underrepresented group in faculty whose numbers have not increased in nine years.

The number of Latinos in UC medical school faculty has increased but it does not reflect the rapid growth of Latinos in California's population. In proportion to percentage of Latinos in California, Latino faculty representation has actually decreased.

Again, Asian and Pacific Islanders are seemingly overrepresented yet no efforts have been made to disaggregate this data.

The report asserts that having minority professors is a key factor in creating a supportive learning environment that increases the retention of underrepresented medical students of color.

The third report discusses student diversity, demonstrating the disparity between minority representation in California's population and in the UC medical school system. In particular, it recognizes the low rates of Latino, African American, and Native American enrollment rate.

The current disparity between minority representation in the UC medical student body and California's demographics is so severe that if only minority applicants matriculated, it would take over three decades to achieve equal representation.

Students of color are matriculating at the same rate at which they apply, meaning that action needs to be taken to increase application rates.

The increase in minority representation after the repeal of SP-1, which barred using race or ethnicity in the admissions criteria, demonstrates the potential for increased diversity if Proposition 209 were also repealed.

The fourth report is actually an addendum to the student diversity report that presents disaggregated data on the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA/NHPI) student population. The "Closing the Data Gap" report studies the need to disaggregate Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders (AA & NHPI) in UC medical school system's data on applicants, accepted applicants, and matriculants.

Within AA and NHPI ethnic subgroups, there are major differences in socioeconomic levels, access to health insurance, and health disparities. The "model minority myth," which falsely assumes that all Asians are able to work quietly and diligently to boost their socioeconomic status, masks the diversity in socioeconomic and health challenges that AA and NHPIs face. Taking this into consideration, there is a dire need for a more diverse and linguistically and culturally competent AA and NHPI health workforce. However, the AA and NHPI representation in UC medical schools has been inflated for many ethnic groups by the umbrella term "Asian American." Report findings include:

There is currently a lack of data to fully understand the rate of matriculation among AA and NHPIs.

Disaggregation of AA and NHPIs only began in 2002;

There is still much data that is placed under "Other Asian" or "Other Pacific Islander" categories; and

These "Other API" categories hide data about vulnerable communities including Hmong, Cambodians, and Laotians.

Filipino American students are underrepresented among UC medical school matriculants.
- The majority of Filipino physicians were internationally educated, demonstrating a flaw in U.S. educational pipelines.
There is a severe under-representation among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders among the UC's medical applicants, accepted applicants, and matriculants.
- There were zero Native Hawaiian and Samoan applicants accepted out of the pool that applied during 2004-2007.

Related Publications

A Status Report on Career Staff Diversity at the University of California
It is economically imperative for the University of California to meaningfully address the vast minority populations that reside in the state. A diverse career staff provides a supportive environment for UC's diverse student population...

Faculty Diversity Report
This report serves as the second installment of the Representing the New Majority series, which examines the racial and ethnic diversity of the five-campus University of California medical school system. The first report assessed the racial and ethnic diversity of administrative and management career staff members on the UC Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco medical school campuses. This report focuses on the racial and ethnic diversity of tenure-track faculty at each medical school campus. The final re p o rt will analyze the racial and ethnic diversity of the medical student body.

Representing The New Majority Part III
A Status Report on the Diversity of the University of California Medical Student Body. This is the third and final report in the Representing the New Majority series, which examines diversity at the University of California's five medical school campuses. In it, we examine how effectively the University of California medical schools are recruiting, retaining, and preparing a physician workforce that represents the diverse populations of California. This report shows trends in the diversity of the University of California medical student body in relation to demographic changes, and uncovers evidence that indicate that the future of increasing diversity in at UC medical schools pipeline programs lies in strengthening health workforce pipeline programs, and increasing institutional outreach to underserved communities. The report also summarizes the broad literature that makes the case for a diverse health workforce.