The AAMC submitted a statement for the record (PDF) prior to a May 2 Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing entitled, “What Can Congress Do to Address the Severe Shortage of Minority Health Care Professionals and the Maternal Health Crisis?” The AAMC’s statement (PDF) outlined the association’s recommendations to ensure a diverse and representative health care workforce, as well as address disparities in the rates of maternal injury and death.
The hearing featured two witnesses from AAMC-member institutions: Samuel Cook, MD, a medical resident at the Morehouse School of Medicine, and Michael Galvez, MD, a pediatric plastic surgeon at Valley Children's Hospital and co-creator of National Latino Physician Day. In his testimony (PDF), Cook credited Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and postbaccalaureate pathway programs as being instrumental in creating routes for underrepresented minority students into medical education. Yolanda Lawson, MD, president of the National Medical Association, and a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist, also provided testimony (PDF) on how maternal health disparities persist as a pressing public health challenge in the United States. Lawson encouraged the committee to address the shortage of Black physicians and offered steps that could be taken to increase minority representation in the physician workforce.
The hearing also included additional witnesses and a panel examining the drivers of the maternal health crisis, which featured testimony from two lawmakers: Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) and Rep. Michael Burgess, MD (R-Texas).
- Washington Highlights