May 31, 2002

Every spring, excitement builds for medical students around the country as they prepare for Match Day when they receive news of their residency appointments at academic medical centers. This year, Match Day brought particularly good news for the MGH — the total number of underrepresented minority trainees who "matched" at the MGH substantially increased from previous years.

This success is in the numbers. The total number of minority medical students who chose to train at the MGH (and who the MGH training programs also selected as prime candidates) increased from 19 to 33, a 73 percent increase.

Increasing the diversity of physicians at the MGH is among the top priorities at the hospital. "Attracting and retaining highly qualified diverse physicians is not only the right thing to do, it also is necessary to provide high-quality care to an increasingly diverse patient population," says James J. Mongan, MD, president of the MGH. "Recruiting top minority medical students is a natural place to make progress in attaining this goal. I am pleased with this year's minority resident match results, particularly given the competition for these residents nationwide."

Right, staff of the Multicultural Affairs Office

While the MGH has many internationally renowned training programs, the hospital traditionally hasn't been a top choice for minority medical students. According to Winfred Williams, MD, director of the MGH Multicultural Affairs Office (MAO), the MGH often has been seen as a cold and unwelcoming teaching hospital — a reputation that up until recently has deterred many physicians of color from pursuing their careers here. But hospital leadership has been committed to changing that, and this year's match results are proof that these improved recruiting efforts are working.

Spearheading these efforts is the staff of the MAO, led by Williams. During the last few years, MAO staff members have partnered with the leadership of the 20 MGH and MGH/BWH residency training programs to develop ways to attract more minority candidates.

According to Elena Olson, program manager for the MAO, this year's outstanding success in recruitment is because of a combination of elements — a rich pool of top-notch minority candidates, the commitment of training program leaders to increase recruitment and the organizational support of the MAO.

"There is no singular way to increase the number of minority residents training here," says Olson. "At a minimum, you need to have an infrastructure in place that supports minority candidates. Our office provides a variety of resources that training programs can access according to their needs. It is the commitment and response of these programs, however, that has made our recruitment process so successful this year."

During the prime recruitment months, the MAO staff provided various levels of customized assistance to departments. Like last year, the staff interviewed minority applicants as members of residency selection committees. They met with numerous minority candidates individually to share information about what it is like to train and work at the MGH as a physician of color. They also held eight recruitment dinners to offer minority candidates an opportunity to network among themselves as well as with current minority residents and senior faculty.

According to Olson, one factor that made a big difference for many residency programs this year was more in-depth involvement of minority residents in the recruitment process. Ronald Dixon, MD, manager of trainee affairs for the MAO, worked closely with minority residents to help them become "ambassadors" in the recruitment process.

Minority residents attended recruitment fairs throughout the country and met with candidates individually to share information and answer questions that candidates may not have felt comfortable asking in the interview process.

"The residents became our best recruiters," says Dixon. "I think the minority candidates who chose to come here did so because they had a more a genuine view of what the minority house staff is like. It also gave the residents a chance to meet with their future colleagues, prepare them for what they can expect and give them some perspective."

Olson and the MAO staff recognize that this year's recruitment success will be hard to top next year. "Up until this year, underrepresented minorities were approximately 10 percent of the total new residents matched at the MGH," says Olson. "This year we are at 16 percent, which is an amazing increase. But we still have room to improve. Our goal for the future is to continue to attract high-quality candidates and to work closely with residency programs to retain those minority residents as faculty. Recruiting more minority physicians at all levels is an important objective that benefits the hospital, the physicians and the patients."

For more information about MAO initiatives, visit http://www.mgh.harvard.edu/mao or call (617) 724-3832.