Little Progress in Boosting Numbers of Black Doctors [View all]

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 21, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The percentage of U.S. doctors who are Black has barely risen in the past 120 years, and there's still a wide pay gap between white and Black physicians, a new study finds.

The analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data from 1900 to 2018 included about 150,000 physicians, with about 3,300 Black male physicians and 1,600 Black female physicians.

The study "findings demonstrate how slow progress has been, and how far and fast we have to go, if we care about the diversity of the physician workforce and the health benefits such diversity brings to patients, particularly minority patients," said study author Dr. Dan Ly. He's an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

In 1900, almost 12% of the U.S. population was Black, but only 1.3% of physicians were Black. In 1940, nearly 10% of the population was Black, but less than 3% of physicians were Black. Of those, 2.7% were men and 0.1% were women, the study found.

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