The challenges with enhancing racial and ethnic diversity in the medical workforce have been well documented over the last several decades. 1 Unfortunately, the surgical specialties have revealed the least amount of progress in this arena. 2 Individuals from ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in medicine (UIM), as defined by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), include African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American/Alaskan Native/Native Hawaiians, and mainland Puerto Ricans. 3 The benefits of enhancing racial and ethnic diversity in the physician workforce are numerous. Physicians coming from these groups have proven to provide care to minority and medically underserved communities, in addition to all Medicaid and indigent patients, at a greater propensity than their majority physician counterparts. 4–6 In addition, African American and Latino patients are more likely to seek out and feel increasingly comfortable with UIM physicians and are more likely to participate in clinical trials if a UIM clinician/academician is on the investigative team. 7–9 Despite this growing evidence of the benefits of enhancing racial and ethnic diversity in the physician workforce, little to no advancements have been revealed nationwide.

Concerned about this glaring shortcoming, the surgical subspecialties at the University of Pennsylvania assessed the racial and ethnic demographics of our residency trainees. Although the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine had 23% of its student body coming from UIM backgrounds, 7% of the institution’s surgical residents were from UIM groups, statistics echoed in national data. 2 Not satisfied with the magnitude of our deficit and realizing that improvements would not come easily, we collectively devised a strategy to increase our racial and ethnic representation at the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS). We proposed that by implementing a three-faceted approach, we could successfully increase our yield of newly matched surgical residents from UIM groups.