DALLAS, May 20, 2024 — According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, fewer than 6% of all physicians in the United States are Black or African American and less than 7% are of Hispanic heritage. The American Heart Association, the world's leading nonprofit organization focused on longer, healthier lives and celebrating one hundred years of lifesaving service, continues to confront his gap by building on its historic engagement with students at leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). A renewed two-year financial investment by the Quest Diagnostics Foundation, as part of the Quest for Health Equity (Q4HE) initiative, will support 83 scholars across 22 communities and 39 HBCUs and HSIs that have been selected to participate this year.
On April 11-13, 2024, nearly 100 students convened in Dallas at the American Heart Association's international headquarters for the American Heart Association's Scholars Program Research Symposium: "Bold Outcomes for Future Leaders". The agenda featured professional development workshops and introduced several national American Heart Association Scholars collaborations designed to enhance testing resources, education technology, and mental wellness programs. The United States Office of Minority Health reports that "Significant racial and ethnic health disparities continue to permeate the major dimensions of health care, the health care workforce population health, and data collection and research."
The American Journal of Public Health suggests that patients of color may experience uncomfortable interactions with health care providers because of implicit and unconscious bias among physicians and other health care professionals. This may lower patient trust in prescribed treatments and follow-up care, and it is why both the American Heart Association and the Quest Diagnostics Foundation share a commitment to Scholars programs at the college and university level.
"We are deeply committed to increasing diversity among health care professionals through our American Heart Association Scholars programs," said Pamela Garmon Johnson, National Vice President of Health Equity and Partnerships for the American Heart Association. "We are also grateful to have a sponsor like the Quest Diagnostics Foundation that believes as strongly as we do in this innovative effort to address health disparities in communities where it's needed most and is willing to make the financial investment necessary to move the needle."
"Addressing health inequity is at the core of our deep commitment to the American Heart Association's Scholars programs," said Stacey Ingram, Senior Manager, Quest for Health Equity, Quest Diagnostics. "We are proud that our shared effort to engage and encourage the next generation of health care workers, researchers, physicians and leaders will create opportunities to eliminate inequities, and we look forward to continuing positive outcomes as we extend our relationship with the American Heart Association with an additional two-year investment."
The Q4HE initiative specifically provides resources, funding, testing services and education to address health disparities in underserved communities across the U.S.
