The value of having a diverse physician and physicianscientist workforce is incalculable for the USA. There is no substitute for having a physician workforce with various backgrounds in patient care and research. New clinicians develop lifelong colleagues and relationships that take into account each other’s opinion and experiences, and scientists consider novel or innovative opinions for approaches to solving a research question. The value of diversity in American medicine, from the pre-Civil War era to the modern era, has been understated with regard to the involvement of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in the many successes that the country has had in the health sciences—from drug and device development to basic research that ultimately leads to a breakthrough. This is despite the challenges that prevent many URMs and other groups from having the opportunity for a career in the medical sciences, as well as from succeeding once an opportunity presents itself. There are likely multiple ‘‘diamonds in the rough’’in communities or URM families who do not have the resources to allow consideration of a career in the medical sciences. Some of this failure is attributable to socioeconomic issues, the limitations of local schools, constrained expectations for an individual’s potential, lack of exposure to these types of careers, and the early initiation of bias by society owing to an individual’s skin color or ethnicity.

With the predicted change in the US census to a nonmajority population by 2060, and URMs comprising 57% of the US population by then [1], a path should be laid out to lower the barriers to URMs for entering and succeeding within the medical sciences to approximate their representation in the population. Some patients prefer to be examined by a physician with a similar background, but the number of URMs in minority education remains small and is not reflective of the US population as a whole [2], thereby limiting the number of these physicians to care for the expanding URM population. The ‘‘pipeline’’of URMs entering medical schools has grown slowly—to about 2500 students nationwide out of* 20,000 total medical school matriculants [2]. This rate will not match the nation’s need for a diverse medical work force; only* 7% of all physicians are from URM groups. Even more concerning is the low number of URMs entering and staying in academic medicine. Only a fraction (perhaps 10–15% or less) of those matriculating URM medical students will eventually engage fully in the traditional academic tripartite mission, making the pipeline to academic medicine for URMs only a trickle. Similarly, medical school faculty makeup does not reflect the US population, with URMs representing* 7% of faculty [2]. The dearth of URM medical faculty members is a lost opportunity to provide role models and mentors for URM students, not to mention representation on student and faculty selection committees that provide complete views for selection and hiring of a diverse student body and faculty.