Across the United States, medical schools are taking a closer look at how future physicians are taught about race, racism, social determinants of health, bias, and the structural factors that contribute to unequal health outcomes.
The goal is not simply to create a more diverse medical student body. Schools are increasingly examining the broader medical education system, including who gets admitted, what students learn, how patients are represented in the curriculum, how faculty are trained, and how future physicians understand the factors that influence their patients’ health.
These changes come at an important time. Although the number of medical students in the United States has reached record levels, disparities in representation remain. In 2025, more than 100,000 students were enrolled in U.S. MD-granting medical schools. Yet the representation of some groups historically underrepresented in medicine remains considerably lower than their representation in the U.S. population.
Rethinking How Race Is Taught in Medicine
Historically, race has sometimes been presented in medical education as though it were a biological risk factor. This can reinforce misconceptions and overlook the social and structural circumstances that contribute to differences in health outcomes.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has highlighted efforts by medical schools to integrate health equity and anti-racism throughout medical education rather than limiting the subject to a single lecture or elective course.
Curriculum Audits Are Becoming More Common
For example, Boston University School of Medicine undertook a major review of race-related content after students raised concerns about gaps in its curriculum. Students reviewed course materials and identified areas that needed improvement. The resulting recommendations contributed to subsequent curricular changes.
A dermatology presentation, for example, should prepare future physicians to recognize conditions across a range of skin tones. Similarly, clinical cases should reflect the diverse populations physicians will encounter in practice.
Moving Beyond the “Race as Biology” Model
Disparities are often connected to factors beyond race, such as:
- Access to care, insurance, income, housing, education, food, and transportation
- Environmental exposures and neighborhood conditions
- Discrimination, public policy, and trust in the healthcare system
This represents an important shift from simply memorizing that a particular racial or ethnic group has a higher rate of a particular disease toward asking why that disparity exists in the first place.
Teaching Students About Implicit Bias
Medical schools are also addressing the role that implicit and unconscious bias can play in healthcare.
Physicians make countless decisions about diagnosis, treatment, risk, pain, testing, and adherence, decisions that bias can influence without their awareness.
As a result, some medical schools have incorporated training designed to help students recognize their own assumptions and understand how bias can affect patient care.
Diversifying the Medical Student Pipeline
Medical schools are working to develop pathways that encourage students from historically underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds to consider medicine.
These efforts can include:
- Mentorship, advising, and pre-medical pipeline programs
- Partnerships, summer enrichment, research, and academic preparation
- Financial assistance and outreach to students from disadvantaged backgrounds
AAMC data show that representation among medical students has improved over the longer term, but recent enrollment trends have also raised concerns. In 2024-25, matriculation declined among several groups historically underrepresented in medicine.
The 2025-26 entering class included 8.4% Black or African American students, 11.5% Hispanic or Latino students, 0.9% American Indian or Alaska Native students, and 0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students, according to AAMC data.
Increasing the number of students entering medical school from diverse backgrounds is one piece of a much larger effort to build a physician workforce that better reflects the communities it serves.
Rethinking Medical School Admissions
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision concerning the consideration of race in college admissions, medical schools have had to adapt their admissions practices to a new legal environment. The AAMC has emphasized the continued importance of holistic review and race-neutral approaches to identifying qualified applicants with diverse experiences and perspectives.
Schools can evaluate factors such as:
- Life experience, socioeconomic background, and educational opportunity
- Leadership, service, community involvement, and resilience
- Commitment to underserved communities
Medical schools are therefore continuing to explore ways to identify applicants who have the academic ability to succeed while also bringing experiences and perspectives that can strengthen the future physician workforce.
Giving Students a Voice
Students have organized curriculum reviews, advocated for more representative materials, and pressed institutions to address racism, creating a feedback loop that can reveal shortcomings otherwise missed by administrators or faculty.
Understanding the History of Racism in Medicine
Understanding that history can help future physicians recognize why mistrust of healthcare institutions exists in some communities and why certain disparities have persisted for generations.
Medical students may learn about unethical research, segregation, discrimination in medical education, unequal access to care, and the ways medical institutions have contributed to racial inequities.
This historical context matters because physicians cannot effectively address present-day disparities without understanding some of the forces that helped create them.
Preparing Physicians to Address Social Determinants of Health
A patient with uncontrolled diabetes, for example, may not simply need another medication. The physician may also need to understand whether the patient can afford the medication, has reliable transportation, has access to healthy food, understands the treatment plan, or has stable housing.
Medical schools are increasingly teaching students to incorporate social determinants of health into patient histories and clinical decision-making.
The Work Is Far From Finished
The latest enrollment data demonstrate both progress and persistent challenges. The medical student population has become more diverse over time, but representation remains uneven, and recent declines among some historically underrepresented groups demonstrate that progress is not guaranteed.
There is also an important difference between having an anti-racism policy and creating an anti-racist culture.
It requires sustained attention to admissions, curriculum, faculty development, student support, clinical training, leadership, mentorship, recruitment, and ultimately the healthcare workforce.
Why This Matters for the Future of Medicine
The AAMC has argued that incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into medical education can help prepare physicians to care for diverse populations and address factors that can interfere with effective physician-patient relationships.
The medical schools leading these efforts are recognizing that combating racism and health inequity cannot be accomplished through a single course, diversity initiative, or recruitment campaign.
It requires a broader transformation in how physicians are recruited, educated, mentored, evaluated, and prepared to care for patients.
It will be measured by whether tomorrow’s physicians are better prepared to recognize inequity, challenge bias, build trust, and provide high-quality care to every patient.