UMC issued the following press release authored by Gary Pettus.
College students under-represented in medicine have until March 15 to apply to a program designed to secure qualified hopefuls a place in the medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
PROMISE – Promoting Recruitment Opportunities in Medicine with Individual Study Experiences – is the first early assurance program directly managed by the School of Medicine and fills what would have been a void left by the recent dissolution of a similar program.
Most of the students who have applied so far are college sophomores; upon meeting the academic requirements, they would enter the School of Medicine in 2022.
“It lessens the stress of those who complete the program because they will know by the time they are seniors if they are accepted to medical school,” said Dr. Dan Coleman, director of outreach in the School of Medicine.
The PROMISE plan is to reserve a certain number of spots each year for future physicians whose enrollment will enrich the diversity of the medical school’s student body and who may need support in piloting the waters of admissions requirements.
“A lot of these students don’t know what it takes to go through this process,” said Dr. Demondes Haynes, professor of medicine and associate dean for admissions in the School of Medicine.
“We help give them structure. We want to show them that it’s doable.”
As Dr. Loretta Jackson-Williams put it: “If you want to commit to us, this allows us a way to commit to you.
“Meet all the criteria, and you have a spot in medical school here,” said Jackson-Williams, professor of emergency medicine and vice dean for medical education.
PROMISE walks students through the admissions steps and outlines for them the requirements for pre-med college coursework. It also helps them prep for the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT.
“We will also offer various hands-on activities in the summer, such as suturing,” Coleman said.
Students must achieve a certain GPA and MCAT score. They are required to submit a formal application to the medical school and undergo an admissions interview.
“Reaching back into the pipeline before application to medical school is one way to be sure we reach the best and brightest candidates,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “This is especially true for those who are underrepresented in medicine, and the new PROMISE program helps us do that.”
Most medical schools have similar initiatives; many were created in response to the lack of African American males seeking a medical degree, Haynes said, and to meet a recommendation from the Association of American Medical Colleges to establish admissions standards that are more “holistic,” or inclusive.
“We want to have a broad outreach to make sure our medical students better reflect the population of our state,” Haynes said.
Academic advisors and instructors at the state’s colleges, community colleges and universities have been notified about PROMISE, Coleman said.
Among the students being sought are those who are those lacking in resources and who may be economically-disadvantaged, Jackson-Williams said.
“We want to reach out to all colleges and universities in the state,” Haynes said. “Those schools have career advisors, but some are more dedicated to pre-med than others and many have to wear several hats. We’re trying to lighten their load.”
Two other outreach efforts also reserve spots in the School of Medicine: the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program and the Professional Portal Program in the UMMC School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences, which nurtures students seeking careers in health care or biomedical science. The academic thresholds for admission are the same for all three programs.
PROMISE is a replacement for and an enhancement of MEDCORP-Direct, which was administered by the Office of Academic Affairs. “PROMISE was developed to continue its work,” Jackson-Williams said.
“The School of Medicine now has the opportunity to shape this work, as we do our curriculum.”
One PROMISE goal is to track those students who are accepted and decide to participate, Jackson-Williams said. “We want to see how many are successful.
“Even if a student doesn’t complete our program, I count it as a success if its impact has encouraged that student to enter any health care field. All of these students may not continue in medical school, but instead somewhere else in health care or even become a science teacher.
“They have been encouraged by this learning and supportive environment.”
PROMISE offers one more way to meet the Medical Center’s goal of creating a healthy Mississippi, Haynes said. “And doing so by growing our own to take care of our state.”
For details and an application form, go to the PROMISE website or contact Dan Coleman, jdcoleman@umc.edu.
Friday, February 28, 2020
Med School Increases Diversity
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34 comments:
Good. It is hard to be an ignorant racist POS when an African-Americans or other POC is providing your life saving medical treatment.
Oh great, let's lower the bar for health care providers.
Do you know what you call a physician who graduated last in his class at medical school?
.
.
.
Doctor
More Ole Miss Bullshit. But, congrats for coming up with a cute acronym. It takes a group awhile to come up with those.
What the hell is 'under-represented supposed to signal? I know it's code, but what's its value in 2020? Every breathing soul has an equal opportunity to set goals, strive for them, and accomplish them.
So like other similar programs, will they be lowering the standard to meet their beloved diversity?
Law Schools have been doing this for years. Allowing students who shouldn't be there and now the law schools are hemmorging students who can't pass the Bar Exam. Medical Schools are now following in this identity theorem. Oh Goody.
Goodness at all the racist pieces of excrement. May your future oncologist be a biracial transgender Democrat.
"...who may need support in piloting the waters of admissions requirements."
So, we're actively recruiting college students who can't figure out how to apply?
When I’m at the doctor, I want that doctor to have been admitted to school based on ability, not color.
Actually UMC has been helping um, "at risk" incoming students for quite some time. Don't know if the school still does it, but such students could come in the summer and take either biochem or gross (I forget which one) before med school started for everyone else.
Well, now I know why my sister, a summa cum laude graduate in biochemistry, had to jump through hoops to make it in.
@1:11 It may not bother you to be treated by an unqualified physician, but all most people ask is that their physicians are qualified to be performing their assigned tasks regardless of color. Your position is insulting to every minority physician who earned his or her admission to medical school and devoted the necessary time and energy required to successfully complete their studies.
Kingfish is right... the “at risk” get to come in and take the classes the summer before. They get the same test a couple months later....
First: there is no policy or plan in this or similar programs to accept or graduate anyone who is not fully qualified to enter the program. None.
Second: universities, medical schools, law schools, barber colleges, and damn near every other institution of learning have throughout their history admitted and often graduated friends, donors, legacies, relatives, political cronies and various John Does who were allowed a "seat" in the class for various reasons, not always their superior scholarship. The scrutiny and outcry comes when race is suggested as the reason.
Third: any state institution that does not recognize it's responsibility to provide needed professional expertise to ALL segments of it's state whenever possible is underserving the taxpayers. (key: whenever possible)
Hell, if he or she weights 230 lbs and can run a 4.3 forty yard dash we'll find a spot for him. If Alabama don't get him first.
Title should read "Medical School Increases Reverse Discrimination"
It's too late to be given handout at this point and the stakes are too high. K-12 should be a higher priority if this is the going concern.
The real problem is that not many people want to attend Medical School in Mississippi. Most of the time it's the rejects from LA, AL and TN.
2:54
Historically the med school in jackson doesn’t admit non-MS residents. Thus most grads have been from MS colleges. May have changed, don’t know.
That's really a problem 3:09, you can count the high schools on one hand that have a science curriculum that prepares students for college level pre med classes.
Set asides-pure and simple. Call it what you want.
The UK just passed a law that the NHS can deny healthcare to racists and bigots. Can't wait until Bernie Care passes the same rules and you hateful bigots eat your humble pies.
We can bake any pie, and run a trout line.
We will survive.
4:02 would not last five minutes in Venezuela if his plane landed in Caracas tonight.
Y’all are griping about this but allow an NP with an online degree to provide your care? Seems weird.
Travesty.
Having a standard that is determined by race = Racism.
You are either pro or anti.
This crap does not work.
And I am a black man. I just also happen to hate hypocrites of every color.
Equal opportunity does not mean equal outcome.
This just wrong.
KF - it was gross anatomy 20-ish years ago. Biochem isn’t much different between undergrad and med school, except that it’s harder, but most incoming students don’t have a strong undergrad class in anatomy.
3:09, that’s a legislative mandate IIRC. All qualified MS residents must be admitted before nonresidents can be considered. Youll find more than a few who declare MS residency as college students in order to take advantage of this.
More Oxford bullshit is right. As long as they use the terms "ole' Miss'" and "rebels" they are the racists that they are. They just want to appear tolerant and fair to avoid those last bastions of their sick nostalgia for their beloved alma mater. 50 years from now, UM will become majority black, along with most of the state. It's inevitable.
Affirmative action is racist, and even though a previous Supreme Court ruled it ok for college admissions - it's a new day on the dais.....Bet it doesn't hold up this time if/when it's challenged.
It used to be about equal opportunity. Now it is about equal outcomes. Imagine if they had a similar policy to increase the percentage of white basketball players at Miss Stae and Ole Miss “to better reflect the diversity of our state “. Any black student that has grades and. MCAT scores to legitimately get into UMMC can get a scholarship to an Ivy League Med school
Every day I come to this site and get shocked at what pieces of shit most of the readers here are.
I went to med school at UMC. This program was in place when I was there. The idea behind it is that there aren't enough doctors from non white communities in this state. Those communities are underserved because white doctors usually don't go practice in those non white communities.
If you're from one of those non white communities, when you're growing up you dont see many or any doctors that look like you. It might not even cross your mind as a kid that you can become a doctor, that that job is available to you.
You go to one of the local public schools that the state legislature underfunded and the middle class community abandoned. It's poor performing. People dont want to teach there. The education is bad even though you try your best. Maybe your parents didn't go to college. They dont know how to help you get good grades and navigate the path of higher education. You want to better yourself but you're not exactly sure how to go about doing it. It's a tough and complicated process to apply and matriculate into a medical school.
These kids are smart. They work hard. They're determined. They still have to pass all of the board exams and standardized tests in order to pass and get their license. They earn it. By the time it's all said and done they're usually the best doctors in their residency programs, usually with a better understanding of the world than that dipshit who graduated from Jackson Prep with a silver spoon in his mouth and the entitlement that went along with it.
"The UK just passed a law that the NHS can deny healthcare to racists and bigots. Can't wait until Bernie Care passes the same rules and you hateful bigots eat your humble pies."
February 28, 2020 at 4:02 PM
Charlotte, is that you, writing from your sweltering new home in the Third World? Only you, can rise to such a level of insanity. In several recent posts, I recognized your style, and... um... "intensity". Is your hair still dyed in Day-Glo Rainbow hues? Is your cute hubby still stuck with you? Or has he escaped?
2:14: You obviously have hostility.
“ These kids are smart. They work hard. They're determined”.
How about the kids who may be smarter, who may have worked harder, & may be ever bit as determined? You want to pass over them to give “your kids” special treatment. I thought we had a country of “equal rights& opportunity”. You want a racist country with your race having superior rights & opportunities. You want a country of unequal rights & opportunities; a country tilted in your favor. Continue to blindly block vote & intimidate politicians so that you can destroy a country with opportunity for all.
For medical school applicants to UMC - here are some basics of their scoring system:
Minus 1 if you had a private K-12/undergraduate education/attended good public school district.
Minus 1 if you are not a minority.
Minus 1 if your parent is a physician.
This. Is. Real.
Applicants who fall into any or all of these “negative” categories must work extra hard to overcome these UMC obstacles.
This is one reason why a DO school set up shop in Hattiesburg.
At UMC - altering the rules of the admissions, diversity, minimizing individualism, and pushing environmentalism are emphasized over training the brightest people to become the most capable physicians to serve our state.
Group projects from year one and pass/fail scoring in UMC classes and on the medical boards are now commonplace. All of the medical students at UMC hold hands and graduate with an M.D. together as one. No personal pride in that.
9:56 Having a parent who is a practicing physician is such a disadvantage at UMC.
Coming from a "good school" is just crippling.
Minorities ain't even minorities any more they've taken over.
Get.Real.
Your point of view is obvious. Stating ridiculously exaggerated "facts" does not bolster your position. Do better next time.
This “media type outlet” is no different than the national media in that it refuses to acknowledge & discuss the truth & facts of America’s problems.
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