Written by John Michel and Gualberto Muñoz

Medical school is difficult.

Most people, both inside and outside of the medical profession, can likely agree on this statement. What many may not realize, are the particular challenges of medical school for LHS+ (Latina/o/x/e, Hispanic, or of Spanish Origin+) students.

To reach medical school, students must face obstacles such as a rigorous pre-medical major bachelor’s degree, biomedical research, standardized testing, and clinical experiences. Further, Underrepresented in Medicine (URM) individuals face additional challenges throughout their medical careers, such as bias, discrimination, stereotype threat, lack of mentors, and racism at all levels.1,2 The COVID-19 pandemic’s unveiling of health disparities amidst ongoing brutality and racism against communities of color has reinforced the need to support URM medical students in their career steps. 3,4

Further, the low number of LHS+ senior leaders of our academic medical centers hampers clinical, educational, research, and service excellence and contributes to inequities in the communities we serve. While this demographic constitutes 18.5% of the general US population, and is the nation’s largest non-white ethnoracial group, only 7% of faculty members at US academic medical centers identify as part of the LHS+ community.5

Fifty years ago, trainees like us identified the need for self-determination in increasing the number of individuals from historically underrepresented medical backgrounds (URM/UIM students). Their efforts led to the formation of student collectives at individual medical schools, which melded into regional entities and, eventually, into the national organization we have today named the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA).

With more than 2,000 members across over 130 chapters and 5 regions, LMSA has undoubtedly come a long way. However, there is still so much more room to grow. Our mission - to unite and empower current and future physicians through service, mentorship, and education, in order to advocate for the improved health of the Hispanic and Latina/o/x communities in the United States - is a perpetual one. Our charge to reduce the disparities preventing the advancement of patients, providers, and trainees of color, is critically important. Our vision, a world where everyone has improved access to equitable and culturally sensitive health care, is absolutely worth fighting for.

To accomplish our vision, we have adopted the core values of:

Unity - Bring medical students together to form a unified, powerful entity

Service - Address the needs of marginalized patients and communities

Mentorship - Empower trainees along the pipeline of medical education

Education - Increase awareness of critical Latina/o/x health issues

Advocacy - Use our collective voice to speak out on behalf of those we serve

Our commitment to these core values can be seen in the numerous events, programs, and resources we have developed to support our community. One such event is our Annual National Conference. This year’s theme was Cincuenta Años de Comunidad: Fostering Service, Health Equity, and Leadership, which highlighted ways in which our LMSA community has leveraged – and will continue to leverage – its strength to address the needs of medical trainees for the improved health of the country’s LHS+ population.

At the annual conference, our PODER Research Symposium showcases the research of pre-medical and medical students who compete for the best poster presentation.  To build core competencies in our trainees, we also offer a number of workshop tracks, including Working Towards Health Equity; Exploring Careers in Medicine; Promoting the Pre-Health Pipeline; Forming Connections, Communities, & Cultures of Support; and Diving In: Clinical & Hands-On Workshop.

The LMSA is committed to promoting our members and their accomplishments. We celebrate with graduating members during our Virtual Match Day and highlight the scholarly work and service of our members through our National LMSA Journal. The LMSA also partners with prominent medical education companies, such as Sketchy, Gold Standard MCAT Prep, and Magoosh MCAT Prep, to secure member benefits and discounts.

In addition to supporting our members, the LMSA is committed to fostering service in our organization at the National, Regional, and Chapter levels. We, in part, foster service through a number of toolkits offered on our website, including Cards of Service, Blood Drives, and Voter Registration Drives. We also collect service reports from our esteemed chapter members and leaders through our National Service Reporting Tool. Each year, we recognize and celebrate the chapters that have engaged in the most outstanding service. We feature these chapters on social media and award them with LMSA merchandise.

The LMSA also promotes mentorship by connecting medical students with faculty and advisors, and undergraduates with medical students. We offer applications that allow mentees and mentors to connect. Further, we promote advice on residency applications, navigating medical school, applying to medical school, etc., through in-person and virtual seminars. We also provide advice on residency applications through our yearly LMSA Residency Guide.

Our organization is dedicated to promoting important policies and advocating for our LHS+ community. Members interested in writing a piece of policy for the LMSA can submit resolutions, which are reviewed and voted on by our House of Delegates at LMSA Policy Summits. We have adopted resolutions on topics ranging from acknowledging the health disparities of essential workers to supporting Human Rights as they Relate to ICE Detention Centers, and so much more.

Medical School is difficult, and more so for LHS+ students across the country. The vision and mission of LMSA are to help build up more physicians that will advocate and work towards health equity for the Latina/o/x community. This can be accomplished with strong communities and networks to help students from pre-medical stages all the way through the end of medical school. Our hope is to continue providing support and resources that help all of our members succeed in their academic journey towards practicing medicine, thus ensuring healthier futures for our communities. •

References

1 Ulloa J et al. “​Microaggressions During Medical Training.” Journal of American Medical Association. Sep 2016.

2 Diaz T. “​An Institutional Approach to Fostering Inclusion and Addressing Racial Bias: Implications for Diversity in Academic Medicine​.” Teaching and Learning in Medicine. Sep 2019.

3 Kelly-Blake et al. “​Rationales for Expanding Minority Physician Representation in the Workforce: a Scoping Review​.” Medical Education. Jun 2018.

4 Koma W et al. “​Low-Income and Communities of Color at Higher Risk of Serious Illness if Infected with Coronavirus​.” Kaiser Family Foundation. May 2020.

5 https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/faculty-institutions/interactive-data/data-reports/faculty-institutions/interactive-data/2021-us-medical-school-faculty

Authors’ Bios:

John Michel is a third-year graduate student at the Johns Hopkins M.D./Ph.D. Program and Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering Department. His research focuses on metastasis and senescence. He also serves as the Publications Chair for the National Latino Medical Student Association where he oversees all published work.

Gualberto Muñoz is a 4th year MD student at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is deeply passionate about Latina/o/x health equity, in particular the issue of Language Access and how patients with Low English Proficiency can receive equitable care. He currently serves as the National President of the Latino Medical Student Association.