Katt Henry and Maura O'Keefe

AAMC launches plans to increase diversity

The Association of American Medical Colleges recently kicked off its campaign to combat the declining number of minority applicants to medical schools. Through this campaign, the program aims to address two main obstacles identified by minority undergraduates who considered applying to medical school -- the MCATs and financial aid. According to Elisa Siegel, senior vice president for communications at the AAMC, focus group participants said performing well on the MCATs and finding good financial aid packages are constant hurdles when they consider applying to medical school. In one portion of the program, titled "Meet the Doctor," the AAMC offers ads in which doctors discuss how they overcame similar obstacles when applying to and completing medical school.