Training family medicine faculty to teach in underserved settings

Because minority physicians are more likely to practice in minority or medically underserved communities, meeting the health care needs of underserved populations requires that programs not only train such physicians but train minority faculty to act as teachers and role models. The Faculty Development Center in Family Medicine at Cook County Hospital has had more than 120 graduates, most of whom are teaching and practicing in underserved settings. Nearly half have been minorities, the result of the priority given to recruitment of minority fellows. The curriculum is specifically geared to prepare faculty to work in underserved settings and nurture future physicians for these settings. Workforce diversity can be achieved only by major changes in the institutional culture of medical education, which federal policy can encourage by setting high standards for grant funding preferences and supporting centers of excellence for training minority physicians and faculty.