Dr Parisa Emami-Naeni on the Lack of Racial Diversity in Ophthalmology Residency Programs

Different factors have contributed to the lack of racial diversity in ophthalmology residency programs, and these programs build the future of the workforce, said Parisa Emami-Naeni, MD, MPH, assistant professor of ophthalmology at University of California, Davis, and vitreoretinal surgeon and uveitis specialist at UC Davis Eye Center.

Transcript

You recently found that ophthalmology residency programs are the least racially diverse programs in the United States. Why do you think that is and what impact is that having on care?

We know that having a racially diverse physician workforce that reflects patient population, or our census, can decrease health care disparities. It can improve access to care among minorities, it can improve overall patient outcomes and satisfaction. However, various studies have shown that ophthalmology is not a racially diverse specialty. And the composition of the ophthalmology workforce certainly does not reflect the status of our society and census.

We know that residency and training build the future of this workforce. Therefore, we wanted to look at their racial and ethnic composition of residency programs. I’m using data from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or ACGME, and found that in [the] 2019-2020 academic year, only 6% of ophthalmology residents belong to the groups that are underrepresented in medicine. This is far lower than other surgical or nonsurgical specialties.

Different factors can contribute to these disparities. Many medical schools do not have a home ophthalmology program. Also, medical students are exposed to ophthalmology towards the end of their medical training in medical school, and this does not give them enough time to build interest in ophthalmology. Moreover, a diverse mentorship in medical school is important in encouraging students to pursue ophthalmology, which is not existent in a lot of the medical schools.

So, in the past recent years, efforts have been made to improve the situation. The Minority Ophthalmology Mentoring Program by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology, AUPO, is one of these programs. Through this program, interested minority students are paired with faculty mentors to introduce them to the field of ophthalmology early on, and to make them more competitive for residency application. More research needs to be done in the next coming years to evaluate the effect of these newer programs in composition of residency programs in the years to come.