Historically Black Schools of Medicine Radiology Residency Programs: Contributions and Lessons Learned.

INTRODUCTION: Black radiologists remain significantly underrepresented in the radiology workforce, despite a 1973 plea by Black radiologists of the National Medical Association to increase training programs for minority radiologists. OBJECTIVE: The authors provide a qualitative narrative that highlights the radiology residency programs of three historically Black schools of medicine (HBSOM) in the U.S., their contributions, and lessons learned from their closure. METHODS: Data from public repositories, interviews, and conversations were conflated to chronicle significant events and establish a timeline during these residency programs' existence. RESULTS: Radiology residencies at Howard University School of Medicine (1945), Meharry Medical College (1949), and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (1972) were established to train Black doctors to treat communities of color. These programs provided care to underserved and under-resourced areas of the country, where inequitable health care fueled a legacy of poor health outcomes. These radiology residency programs collapsed under the weight of suboptimal funding, strapped capital budgets, attrition of faculty, a declining hospital patient census, and failure to maintain other residency specialty programs.` CONCLUSION: Understanding the history and impact of these programs, and of their closure, can be leveraged to develop strategies to increase the representation of racial and ethnic minorities in radiology. Possible reinstatement, with appropriate allocation of resources and creation of intentional policies to ensure sustained success, merits further investigation and may be a pathway to achieve optimal representation.

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Diversity Program for Radiology.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Diagnostic radiology training programs are less diverse than graduating US medical school classes and the patient populations they serve. Inclusion of physicians who are underrepresented minorities in medicine (URMM) can strengthen the profession and help to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population. Our Department of Radiology developed and implemented a plan to increase the number of URMMs in our residency applicant pool and residency training program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We designed a recruitment strategy to diversify the radiology residency applicant pool. This included website development, advertising, early exposure opportunities, travel to predominantly minority institutions and national meetings, and mentoring URMM medical students. We implemented parallel activities to increase the number of URMMs in our residency program. These included holistic screening tools for residency application review, a diverse residency recruitment committee, a welcome environment for visiting candidates, and "Second Look Weekend" visits for talented candidates. Primary outcomes measured include change in percentages of URMM applicants in our applicant pool and URMM residents in our residency program. RESULTS: The percentage of URMM radiology residency applicants increased from 7.5% (42 of 556) of the total applicant pool in the 2012 to 2013 recruitment year to 12.6% (98 of 777) in the 2017 to 2018 recruitment year (P = .001). URMM radiology residency representation increased from 0% (0 of 32) in the 2013 to 2014 academic year to 20% (6 of 30) in the 2018 to 2019 academic year (P = .01). CONCLUSION: An intentional, strategic diversity program can diversify an institution's residency applicant pool and increase representation of URMMs in a diagnostic radiology residency program.