Life
Profile: Dr. Kameron Matthews co-founder of the Tour for Diversity in Medicine
Dr. Kameron Matthews. PHOTO/BRG Communications
Of the nearly 1 million doctors in the United States, less than 4 percent are black, compared with 12.6 percent of the overall population, according to 2010 numbers.
Dr. Kameron Matthews wants that to change.
Her vision drives the Tour for Diversity in Medicine, a bus full of doctors, dentists and medical school students that traveled recently to five historically black colleges and universities. Their first stop on February 20 was at Hampton University.
“I know there could be others doing what I’m doing on a daily basis,” said Matthews, a primary care physician in Chicago. “It doesn’t take much to get those others to where I am.”
Though blacks, Native Americans and people of Latino or Hispanic origin accounted for about 28 percent of the U.S. population in 2008, they represented only about 12 percent of the nation’s medical school graduates in the past three decades, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Virginia recorded similar numbers.
Matthews teamed with other doctors to create the tour because they wanted to ensure that minority students have the logistical information and support needed to launch a medical career.
Their seven-hour program provides tips on interviewing, test-taking and applying to medical and dental school. The doctors also offer advice, encouragement and, in some cases, serve as mentors.
