Commentary: Adopting postbaccalaureate premedical programs to enhance physician workforce diversity

Postbaccalaureate premedical programs increase the likelihood that students from groups underrepresented in medicine will succeed in matriculating into medical school. Although about 20 U.S. medical schools administer academic enhancer postbaccalaureate programs, they often do so with some ambivalence about whether these premedical programs are truly part of the school's mission as a professional-degree-awarding institution. As a result, these programs often are orphans in the world of medical education and lack adequate institutional support. This commentary discusses findings from recent research demonstrating low attrition rates for postbaccalaureate program completers who attend medical school, and the relatively high interest these students have in practicing in underserved communities after completing their training. The author proposes that a comprehensive strategy for health career pipeline programs should emphasize high-yield strategies at the distal stages, such as postbaccalaureate programs, and then work backward up the educational pipeline toward interventions at earlier educational stages. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) could play a key role in this effort by creating a standing committee on postbaccalaureate programs within its Group on Diversity and Inclusion. Creating such a committee could send a statement to AAMC member schools about postbaccalaureate programs being integral to the medical school mission and schools' ability to meet Liaison Committee on Medical Education standards on diversity, and could provide an organizational nidus for a national consortium of academic enhancer postbaccalaureate programs. Postbaccalaureate premedical programs deserve to be fully adopted as essential components of a comprehensive physician workforce development strategy.