New AAMC Report Examines Challenges to Growth of American Indians and Alaska Natives in Medicine

While there have been significant efforts to increase the diversity of the physician workforce, the number of individuals who identify as American Indian and Alaska Native (AI-AN) applying to and enrolling in medical school has seen slow and uneven growth, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the Association of American Medical Colleges AAMC, and the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP).

The new report titled, Reshaping the Journey: American Indians and Alaska Natives in Medicine, is the first of its kind in which two national organizations have worked together to examine the current state of American Indians and Alaska Natives in medicine. In addition, the report includes contributions from the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus, and five other medical schools that have succeeded in enrolling 40% of all AI-AN students.

"The University of Minnesota Medical School is a leader in graduating American Indian and Alaska Native (AI-AN) physicians and has long held the honor of graduating the second largest number of AI-AN physicians in the nation," explains, co-contributor, Anna Wirta Kosobuski, EdD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Medical School, Duluth Campus. "The accomplishments of UM MSD are laudable, born out of decades of unwavering acknowledgment of, and encompassing, the cultural commitment to the critical need of advancing health equity by training AI-AN physicians.

View the report, Reshaping the Journey: American Indians and Alaska Natives in Medicine