ElevateMeD Awards $150,000 in Medical School Scholarships to Increase Physician Workforce Diversity

Founded on a mission to close the gap of disparities in healthcare, ElevateMeD is proud to award $150,000 in scholarships and announce its 2021-2022 ElevateMeD Scholars Program recipients. The nonprofit was developed out of the need to elevate medicine to an ideal where the physician workforce racially and ethnically represents the communities served, thus combatting the disparities faced within our healthcare systems.

According to a 2018 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges, approximately 6 percent of practicing physicians in the United States are Hispanic/Latinx, 5 percent are African American/Black and 0.3 percent are Alaska Native or American Indian. These statistics continue to prove the physician workforce is disproportionate to the general population of these group

The ElevateMeD Scholars Program is a multifaceted program designed to develop the next generation of physician leaders from these underrepresented backgrounds. Each scholar is awarded a $10,000 scholarship for each year remaining in their medical degree in addition to physician mentorship, access to peer network support, leadership development opportunities and financial management education.

The Scholars Program, which selected its inaugural cohort of students in Spring 2020, welcomes 10 new students and additional medical school partners. Five scholars remain from the 2020-2021 cohort and will also be awarded $10,000 for the upcoming academic year.

“We are seeing the evidence that our program is making a difference in how these incredible medical students from diverse backgrounds see themselves and how they can use their careers,” said ElevateMeD founder and executive director Dr. Alyx Porter Umphrey. “It’s an honor to have played a small part in their success.”

To learn more, visit elevatemed.org.