Across the country, the number of stories in the evening news about gun violence in Black and Latino communities might lead many to think the leading cause of death for Black people in cities like Chicago is gun violence. But that is wrong. The leading cause of death for Black people is from chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
With lack of resources, access to quality health care, medical providers and a long history of rightful distrust of the medical community combined with systemic racism, it all adds up to poor health outcomes and premature death for Black people. The White House recently released initiatives to improve opportunities for Black Americans, including efforts to lower health care costs and improve health care outcomes, but more needs to be done.
One way to combat this crisis is to diversify the physician workforce by putting more Black people and Latinos on a pathway to medicine and STEM professions. While Black people and Latinos are almost 31 percent of the U.S. population, they make up less than 12 percent of physicians.
Today, a white Chicagoan lives 8.8 years longer on average than a Black or Hispanic Chicagoan. When certain neighborhoods are compared, the gap widens to 17 years. Persistent racial bias, stereotypes and false beliefs about biological differences between Black people and white people have led to harm, less accurate treatment and less access to specialty care when needed for Black people.
To address this gap, the pathway to medicine and STEM must begin early with an intentional focus on cultivating occupational identity, workforce development and training for health care. Over the past 10 years, I have seen the power of providing early STEM career exploration, mentoring and hands-on internships to high school and college students.
As executive director of STEM with Chicago Public Schools and now the Rush Education and Career Hub, I have seen Black and Latino young people get an early career start by earning industry credentials in IT, phlebotomy, and electronic medical records. These door-opening credentials gave them a chance to explore the work environment, build a stronger sense of self-efficacy and put them on a path to greater economic mobility.
These same racial bias and false beliefs show up in both K-12 and higher education, causing harm for so many young people. This harm festers and shows up as inadequate training and limited access to valuable networks and social capital.
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In Chicago, where one medical district, tech hub and five universities and community colleges are within a five-mile radius of these Black and Latino communities, it is unfathomable and outrageous. This is a failure of policy and imagination that more of the Black and Latino community residents are unable to access middle and high-skill jobs in health care and STEM—nearby jobs with family-sustaining wages.
To be sure, these middle and high-skilled jobs like respiratory therapist and cardiologist typically require four-year and graduate degrees. Most of the residents in the surrounding Black and Latino communities only have a high school diploma.
However, there are several health care jobs that only require a high school diploma and certification like emergency medical technician or phlebotomist. These roles might be a gateway or entry level job to get more people on the path to medicine. Putting young people on a path to these skilled jobs and career paths means technical training, understanding the competencies and aptitudes required for the field. It means providing an early start in elementary school to nurture curiosity and begin building stamina for STEM learning.
It means a three-pronged approach to providing quality teachers, stronger foundations in math and problem-based learning. It means providing paid internships for hands-on, “in-the-field” learning or apprenticeships. It means providing opportunities to engage and learn from professionals and near-peers that “look like them,” or who have walked the path; strengthening sense of self-efficacy and occupational identity. It means finding a way to make medical school more affordable and accessible to people regardless of socio-economic status. Today, medical school costs anywhere from $200,000-$350,000, pushing it out-of-reach for many. As of 2022, Black and Latino students represented 14 percent of U.S. medical school graduates.
For Black people to live longer and have a better quality of life, it is urgent to address some of the social determinants of health through chronic disease prevention, promotion of healthy living, violence prevention, improved maternal, child, family general health, and improved employment status. Research shows getting to those healthier outcomes means having more Black physicians.
While the task is daunting, there are organizations including the American Medical Association, medical colleges and health care systems that have recognized the need to do more to diversify the physician workforce. Pipeline programs and workforce initiatives play a critical role in guiding Black, Latino and other underrepresented groups to careers in health care. As the country grapples with the current health care workforce shortage, employers, educators, policy makers, funders and advocates need to do everything possible to develop the next generation of Black and Latino health care professionals.
It’s a matter of life and death.
Rukiya Curvey-Johnson is vice president of Community Health Equity & Engagement and executive director of the Rush Education and Career Hub (REACH) for The Rush System for Health and a Public Voices Fellow through The OpEd Project.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.