MiMentor is a student-led non-profit org whosemission is to provide innovative and inclusivementorship opportunities to inspire the nextgeneration of diverse healthcare leaders. This project aims to identify factors that contributeto leadership identity formation among students that have participated in MiMentor leadership positions.
Currently, there are less than 3.8% of physicians in faculty leadership positions in Academic Medicine that identify as Latino/Hispanic. Latinx are the largest single racial/ethnic group in California at 39% and are expected to constitute nearly half of Californians by 2060, there is an urgency to diversify our healthcare workforce toimprove the health and future of our state.
With health policy playing a larger role in the practice of medicine since the passage of the Affordable Care Act1, the need for medical students to have a basic understanding of health policy and its many components is urgent. Teaching medical students basic knowledge of health policy will properly prepare them to grow into the future leaders of the healthcare system.
Only 3 initiatives that address Health SystemsSciences (HSS) curricula and provide a case-study of sorts have been documented3,4,5. These include Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and Penn State College of Medicine.
Early exposure to medicine as a careeramong high school students in underservedcommunities is crucial for igniting passionand confidence in the next generation ofURM physicians to serve the diversecommunities of California. We hypothesize that after participating in this program, high school students will have increased awareness about the pathway to medicine and interest in pursuing a career in medicine.
