Increasing racially and ethnically underrepresented women in medical school through an innovative program

In 2014, women comprised nearly half of medical school graduates; 1 yet, the proportion of female medical students from underrepresented racial-ethnic groups remains low. The Association of American Medical Colleges, recognizing this disparity, introduced the term “underrepresented in medicine” (URM) to refer to those groups that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.2 The United States (US) has experienced a continual increase in diverse populations, but the number of URM physicians has not risen to match this pace.3 At the same time, the persistent shortage of primary care physicians, particularly those in family medicine who serve high-need populations,4 is a welldocumented phenomenon.5 The past fifty years have witnessed growth in medical education and practice among URM women; however, there remain significant improvements to be made in terms of permitting access and engagement for these women, specifically related to the debt associated with financing their education and the provision of available mentors who can assist in the career development process. Improvements in this area can offer significant benefits to diverse communities, as a large proportion of underrepresented women who graduate from medical school plan to specialize in primary care and locate their practice in underserved areas. This underscores the need to make systems-level improvements and develop innovative programming to recruit, enroll, and retain minority women in medical education. One such approach is the Woman One Award and Scholarship Fund program, developed by the Drexel University College of Medicine’s (DUCOM) Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership (IWHL) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Woman One aims to effectively address the primary financial barriers faced by minority women in the pursuit of medical education, thereby increasing access, improving retention, and facilitating their goal of becoming physicians who may practice in underserved communities.