LSU Health New Orleans Hosts Young Doctors Event to Address Declining Black Male Medical School Applicants

  

Young Doctors DC asked Office of Diversity and Community Engagement at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine to host a day-long workshop for young people of color because of its successful work in pipeline programs.

The purpose of the event was to bring black male physicians and students together to establish a pipeline of mentorship and address the issue of declining black male medical school applicants. Participants included LSU Health New Orleans faculty, residents and medical students, along with Young Doctors DC leaders and students, as well as a representative from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The powerful one-day symposium brought together high school students, college students, medical school students and attending physicians of color to have a candid discussion on what it takes to become a doctor. The students had the chance to network not only with colleagues at their level, but with those who successfully navigated the journey of becoming a doctor.

After welcoming remarks from LSU Health New Orleans' Dr. Robert Maupin, Professor and Associate Dean for Diversity and Community Engagement, a panel of professionals shared their stories and experience and then fielded questions from the students. Breakout sessions followed with groups for students at each educational level, as well as for parents, teachers and guidance counselors. The sessions were tailored to information specific to each group's participants.

The afternoon featured hands-on learning experiences. Groups rotated between three areas. In a suite of the Isidore Cohn, Jr. MD Student Learning Center, part of LSU Health New Orleans' innovative simulation-based education and team training resources, students learned about and listened to heart and lung sounds. Around the corner, the "Saw Bones" session taught participants about orthopaedic procedures including bone repair. An LSU Health emergency medicine faculty taught the students how to "Stop the Bleed" to save lives by keeping injured people from bleeding out until EMS arrives.

Nearly a hundred participants found that the workshop was worth getting up early on a Saturday morning. It was also successful in showing young people in this area what Louisiana's flagship and most comprehensive academic health sciences center can offer on their journey to becoming doctors.