Written by Patrick L. Valdez, Ph.D.

As a former chancellor of a community college, dean of an undergraduate college, and a higher education administrator and academic with nearly twenty-five years of experience, I have been a part of many institutional and national level conversations, initiatives, and efforts to increase Latinx student success. What has changed over these  twenty-five years is that conversations and efforts that used to be familiar for institutions of higher education (IHEs) and policymakers in California, Texas, Florida, and New York, where Latinx populations have historically been centered, are now taking place in the Midwest, Georgia, North and South Carolina. Many of these conversations and efforts center on increasing access to four-year IHEs as well as strengthening the two-year to four-year transfer pathway, given that community colleges serve as the entry point to postsecondary education for the majority of Latinx students.

Historically, at the institutional level, a number of these initiatives have focused on first-year and first-generation students, i.e., summer bridge programs, increasing academic tutoring, developing learning communities, etc. Within the past five years, however, some of these efforts have advanced into a national dialogue specific to a certain field. Such efforts include the National Science Foundation (NSF) earmarking federal monies to increase the number of Latinx students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, more commonly referred to as the STEM fields, by funding two-year community college STEM initiatives as well as four-year university initiatives.  For example, Arizona State University’s Accelerate Latinx Representation In STEM Education (ALRISE) seeks to increase access and strengthen STEM transfer pathways by developing “a network of faculty, staff, administrators, and students at 2-yr and 4-yr Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs (eHSIs).” Both the institutional and national efforts are needed, but the approaches must be multilateral and as varied as the STEM fields and careers themselves.

The need to increase the number of Latinx Physicians

Many institutional efforts to increase Latinx student success in STEM focus on mitigating the major issues that undergird the challenges that STEM students face. Yet IHEs must also take a moment to reflect on each area of STEM to understand the unique challenges and opportunities that each one presents. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields may require similar skills and academic rigor, but the educational, career pathways, and societal impact that result from each are diverse and distinct.

Such is the case with the medical field and the need to increase the number of Latinx physicians in the U.S. Between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau (2021) reported that the “Hispanic or Latino population grew by 23%” and accounted for “slightly more than half (51.1%) of the total U.S. population growth.” During this period, the health disparities in the Latinx community also increased; in 2016, cancer was the “leading cause of mortality, followed by cardiovascular diseases and unintentional injuries” (Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A.G., et al., 2016). Yet, despite the growing Latinx population and subsequent increase in health disparities, the number of Latinx physicians declined between 1980 and 2010 (Sánchez, G., Nevarez, T., Schink, W., et al., 2015). This decrease preceded the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which “increased the capacity of the U.S. healthcare system to care for the growing Latino Spanish-speaking population,” leading to a need for more “culturally and linguistically competent health care” (Sánchez, J.P., Poll-Hunter, N.I., & Acosta, D., 2015).  This has created a shortage of Latinx physicians at a time when they are most needed in the U.S.

These statistics remind IHEs of the urgent need to create two-year to four-year programs that focus on increasing and preparing the number of Latinx medical school applicants and matriculants. While the recruitment of Latinx student applicants and matriculants is the responsibility of medical schools, two-year to four-year pathway programs that focus on creating pipelines into medical schools would support Latinx students aspiring to be physicians and, simultaneously, encourage other Latinx students who may have never considered a career in the medical field.

The societal impact of increasing the number of Latinx Physicians

Experience teaches that there is no panacea for solving  health disparities in the Latinx community. Simply increasing the number of Latinx physicians will not reduce the “poor conditions of daily life, shaped by structural and social position factors (such as macroeconomics, cultural values, income, education, occupation, and social support systems, including health services), known as social determinants of health (SDH),” that so many Latinx communities face (Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A.G., et al., 2016). However, increasing the number of Latinx physicians would help allay Latinx patient fears and increase preventive care among the Latinx community. Moreover, given that physicians uphold a moral value to treat all that are ill, without prejudice or discrimination, increasing the number of Latinx physicians in the U.S. not only helps heal the Latinx community--it helps heal the entire nation.

Works Cited

Bureau, U. S. C. (2022, March 25). 2020 census illuminates racial and ethnic composition of the country. Census.gov. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html#:~:text=The%20Hispanic%20or%20Latino%20population%20grew%20from%2050.5%20million%20(16.3,Latino%20population%20grew%20by%2023%25.

Sánchez, G., Nevarez, T., Schink, W., & Hayes-Bautista, D. E. (2015). Latino Physicians in the United States, 1980-2010: A Thirty-Year Overview From the Censuses. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 90(7), 906–912. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000619

Sánchez, J. P., Poll-Hunter, N. I., & Acosta, D. (2015). Advancing the Latino Physician Workforce-Population Trends, Persistent Challenges, and New Directions. Academic medicine: journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 90(7), 849–853. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000618

Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A.G. et al. Hispanic health in the USA: a scoping review of the literature. Public Health Rev 37, 31 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-016-0043-2

Author Bio:

Dr. Patrick L. Valdez is an accomplished higher education leader with 25 years of experience in developing academic and student success programs. He holds a doctorate in higher education administration from The University of Texas at Austin.

Former Chancellor and Professor of Education, UNM-Taos. plv07@utexas.edu - 210-557-4205