Better Health Sciences through Minority Participation: The Case for Community-Based Minority Medical Schools

Abstract

The health fields occupy a special place in America. Public-opinion polls show the continuing esteem in which we hold physicians (and also bioscientists) (Gallup Poll Survey, June 1976). The average physician earned $50,000 a year in 1974 (U.S. House of Representatives, 1975). Salaries for hospital personnel have been rising relative to those of other wage earners during recent years (Davis, 1972). We as a people spent more than $118 billion dollars on health care, research, and education in 1975—about 8% of the nation’s total product of goods and services. In the aggregate, the health enterprise is the nation’s third largest employer (Special Analysis, 1976).