The largest number of under represented minority students in one class in both the College of Medicine and the College of Nursing in the history of MUSC graduates today, May 15.

The medical class includes 20 African Americans, two Hispanics and one American Indian, making a total of 23 under represented minorities. This represents 16 percent of the medicine graduating class of 143.

The nursing class includes 16 African Americans, three Hispanics and two American Indians, making a total of 21 under represented minorities. This represents a little more than 10 percent of the nursing graduating class of 202.

“We are extremely pleased with the results of our efforts at increasing minority enrollment in our colleges of Medicine and Nursing,” said Thaddeus Bell, M.D., director of diversity. “But our job is far from over. We are working towards increasing minority enrollment in all of our colleges, with our long-range goal being a 15 percent minority enrollment in all colleges.”

Bell recently invited the presidents of South Carolina’s historically black colleges to MUSC to meet with MUSC president, deans and administrators. The purpose of the meeting was to begin an ongoing dialogue and programs designed to overcome whatever barriers exist and to encourage them to channel their best and brightest students into health professional programs at MUSC.

Another means to achieve this end has been the expansion of the PREP program to MUSC’s other colleges. The program has produced additional qualified applicants for enrollment in the College of Medicine. It has provided intensive training for applicants who lack some of the elements required for admission, but who show great promise. The students complete an intense, year-long immersion in the sciences to prepare them for admission. The program has recently been expanded to nursing and dental medicine, and plans are under way to expand it to the colleges of Health Professions and Pharmacy.

Jump Start, a pilot program designed to identify bright minority students before they enter high school and channel their interest to the health careers, will begin in June. Two students from McClellanville Middle School, identified by the principal and guidance counselor will begin the program, coming to MUSC once a week and rotating through programs representative of the various health professions. These students will be followed and mentored through their high school and college years.

Another program aimed at reaching younger students and channeling them into MUSC health career programs is the high school apprenticeship program, where each summer 25 students from four surrounding counties work in an MUSC research laboratory for eight weeks under the guidance of a faculty member. The students are exposed to a wide variety of opportunities in all the health professions.

The university also cooperates with the statewide AHEC minority programs in various regions of South Carolina. They work with high school health clubs, encouraging interest in health careers.

“We are also working very closely with our minority alumni,” said Bell. “It is our hope that these alumni will go back into their community and spread the word to talented minority young people that the Medical University is anxious to prepare them for rewarding careers in all of the health professions.”