Foundation gives $1.5M to support minority pre-meds

Beginning in June 2001, a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-compounded by $2.8 million from Duke-will create the Duke University Summer Biomedical Science Institute.

The residential summer program will offer 125 college freshmen, sophomores, juniors and some post-graduates-all underrepresented minorities-academic preparation, clinical exposure and other skills needed to compete for medical school acceptance. The faculty will be selected from Duke's academic staff while resident advisers and teaching assistants will be third-year medical students either at Duke or elsewhere; much of the institute's staff will be composed of minorities.

Currently, there is a very small group of physicians of color, explained Dr. Brenda Armstrong, associate dean for medical education admissions. The latest economic expansion has resulted in a shrinking pool of talented applicants for medical school. The groups most affected by this decline, she added, are the underrepresented minorities.

"If there's a small pool to start out with, then [this decline] is exaggerating a problem that's already present," she said. "The number of URMs going to college and then med school gets too small as a result."

Boasting a completely web-based curriculum, the institute will offer courses in biophysics, advanced biology, calculus and chemistry. The institute will also include courses in the basic sciences, written and oral communication, computer competency, supervised patient contact, exam preparation and ethical issues in medicine.

"The summer institution is indeed a significant step in increasing the pool of minority applicants for medical school, at Duke and elsewhere," President Nan Keohane wrote in an e-mail. "We are delighted to have the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the leadership of Dean Armstrong and her colleagues in proposing this important endeavor."

In conjunction with the Association of American Medical Colleges, the RWJ Foundation has funded eight similar programs at schools including Yale University, Vanderbilt University and Baylor College of Medicine.

Greg Pessin contributed to this story.