Disparities in Creating a Diverse Surgical Oncology Physician Workforce: Just a Leaky Pipeline?

Demographic shifts in the Unites States population highlight the growing need for a diverse physician workforce to care for communities of color and to eliminate existing disparities in cancer care and outcomes for these potentially vulnerable patients. The current surgical oncology workforce lacks adequate racial and ethnic representation, and the pool of medical students and surgical trainees who are underrepresented in medicine (URM) is scant. This review critically evaluates data, summarizes challenges in the recruitment and retention of URM surgeons to surgical oncology, and provides strategies to address these workforce deficits.