Minorities are dramatically underrepresented in academic cardiology.
In addition to underrepresentation in medical training, low percentages of minorities enter medical faculty. This is about half the proportion expected if representation in medical training parallels representation in the U.S. population. In addition, despite yearly U.S. minority medical school graduates in excess of 1,000 for the last two decades, only 2,303 minorities are current members of faculty in majority medical schools. There are additionally 1,000 minority faculty at historically Black and Puerto Rican medical schools. Diversity in ethnic and cultural background, as well as gender of physicians and medical faculty is critical to achieve high quality care for all U.S. populations and to articulate all perspectives in discussions and priority setting in medical research and health policy.