The Tour for Diversity in Medicine bus tour will take 11 doctors, dentists, and medical school students from minority populations to five historically black colleges and universities in February to offer premedical enrichment activities to the schools' students.
Made possible by a $210,000 award from the Aetna Foundation, the tour aims to provide college students of color with a wide range of information and advice to plan for careers in medicine and dentistry, according to the foundation.
Although minority populations comprise more than 26% of the U.S. population, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans combined represent only about 6% of practicing physicians and 5% of dentists.
The five stops for the inaugural tour are listed below:
- February 20: Hampton University
- February 21: Johnson C. Smith University
- February 22: South Carolina State University
- February 23: Tuskegee University
- February 24: Jackson State University
Planning is already under way for two more tours, one in fall 2012 to colleges with large Latino populations and another in spring 2013 to colleges with significant Native-American populations.
People are invited to follow the tour on Facebook and on Twitter @Tour4Diversity.
