Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan is all too familiar with the myriad of challenges plaguing the medical profession.
For one, he says, the nation’s longstanding critical shortage of primary care physicians lingers on. In addition, he notes that, although 30 percent of Americans are African-American, Latino or Native American, those populations now make up less than 10 percent of those working as physicians and dentists.
Sullivan hopes his newly-launched initiative will help address those issues in Ohio and create a model that may be replicated nationwide.
The Education for Service model is a key element in the partnership between Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) and Cleveland State University (CSU). The initiative aims to encourage minorities to become primary care doctors working in underserved Northeast Ohio neighborhoods.
Both institutions are joining forces to recruit promising undergraduate students for enrollment into CSU.
“The Census Bureau reports that by 2042 there will no longer be a White majority in this country,” says Sullivan, president emeritus of Atlanta’s Morehouse School of Medicine. “Research shows that people tend to prefer doctors who look like them. This program is designed to address that issue as well.”
The ultimate goal, he says, is to affect the quality of care and improve health outcomes for residents in urban and rural communities, which are often medically underserved.
