Recruitment of Black Men and Women into Academic Psychiatry

How Do Academic Medicine Pathways Differ for Underrepresented Trainees and Physicians? A Critical Scoping Review

“…• Creating diverse search/admissions committees 76,[78][79][80][81][82] • Implicit bias training for reviewers and interviewers [78][79][80][81][83][84][85][86] • Implementing minimum numbers of URiM candidates to interview 79,87 • Adopting holistic review strategies 71,73,77,78,[81][82][83][85][86][87][88][89][90][91]110 • Standardized interview protocols and scoring systems 79,81,83,87,89,91 • Making voting on selection committees anonymous 78 • Outreach with URiM student groups such as SNMA and LMSA and associated conferences [74][75][76]82,83,86,89 • Community outreach, 96,97 partnerships between HBCUs and PWIs 74,…”

“…67,71,72 Although important initiatives to recruit future URiM physicians start as early as junior high school, our scope focuses on medical admissions and onward. [73][74][75][76][77] Medical schools improved the racial diversity of their medical students, residents, and faculty through numerous strategies. Several programs created diverse search committees and established holistic admission and recruitment processes, thus intentionally making each aspect more equitable in hopes to increase the diversity of the admitted class.…”

“…For instance, some residency programs partnered with their local Student National Medical Association and Latino Medical Student Association chapters and participated in local, regional, and national conferences creating mentorship and networking opportunities for each specialty. [74][75][76]82,83,86,89 Other strategies included creating clinical rotations and mentorship programs for URiM trainees and faculty members. 73,74,76,82,90,92,93 In particular, historically Black colleges and universities partnered with predominantly White institutions (PWIs) to create clinical rotations in specialties that did not have residency programs at their institutions, and they also leveraged these partnerships to improve faculty networking, particularly for URiM faculty at PWIs who had few URiM mentors at their own institutions.…”

Editor’s Comment on “Intentions vs. Experiences: Opening the Door to Fundamental Conversations About Diversity and Race”

“…There is a well-recognized need to recruit racial and ethnic minorities into psychiatry, as well as to retain them, in part to reduce mental health disparities [1][2][3][4][5]. José Flores and Zheala Qayyum, in their combined faculty and learner perspective paper "Intentions vs.…”

Comment on: “Recruitment of Black Men and Women into Academic Psychiatry”

“…To the Editor: Regarding the timely and important publication, "Recruitment of Black Men and Women into Academic Psychiatry," Thomas et al outlined two types of strategies to address this inequity [1]. The second of the two strategies, active examination of structural barriers, is of tremendous importance and warrants expansion and affirmation.…”