Re: Northam's medical school. Turns out there were very few black men in med programs then --
and black men are still very underrepresented, even though there are three times as many black male college graduates as there were 40 years ago.
https://www.evms.edu/about_evms/administrative_offices/marketing_communications/publications/issue_9_4/black-and-white-issue.php
Just ask Marcus Martin, MD. When he graduated from EVMS in 1976, he was the only African-American in the school’s inaugural MD class. He saw himself at the forefront of what he expected would be a growing supply of African-American physicians. Forty years later, that number is virtually unchanged.
“I was startled,” says Dr. Martin, Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Virginia, recalling when he first saw the totals in the 2015 report “Altering the Course: Black Males in Medicine,” published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
In 1978, 542 black males entered medical schools across the country. Over the intervening 38 years, that number increased by only 39 students. In 2016, the total number of black males nationwide was 581 out of 21,030 students.
SNIP
During the last 40 years as black male enrollment in medical schools remained virtually unchanged nationwide, the number of black males with at least a bachelor’s degree more than tripled, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In fact, more black males are in college today than ever before.
But when the average medical student graduates with $180,000 in debt, it’s no surprise that many youth who might otherwise consider medicine instead choose the less expensive option. “Four years to get an education and get a job,” Dr. Martin says. “I think that’s key.”
Dr. Martin attended EVMS with help from a National Health Corps Scholarship. Today, similar federal resources are drying up.
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