Best med schools for Hispanic individuals: Baylor College of Medicine ranks no. 2 nationally

Last week, Hispanic Business magazine ranked Baylor College of Medicine number 2 nationally as one of the best medical schools for Hispanic individuals. For the past two years, the College has been ranked as number 4.

The magazine ranks schools based on criteria such as enrollment, faculty, retention rate and the use of progressive programs to recruit, support and mentor Hispanic students.

Hispanic students make up nearly 14 percent of Baylor’s medical school enrollment. Read more about the rankings in the news release.

Diversity programs

Maintaining and increasing diversity within our community is key to the College’s values. Baylor offers a wide array of community and diversity outreach programs throughout the year and aimed toward a variety of audiences.

“Statistics show that we need more minority healthcare providers,” said Dr. James Phillips, senior associate dean and professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, “My office strives to impact the pipeline of future physicians through our outreach programs like Saturday Morning Science.”

Our outreach programs include:

• Office of Diversity and Outreach: The Office of Diversity and Community Outreach works to increase and maintain the presence of those underrepresented in medicine within Baylor’s student body.
• Saturday Morning Science: SMS is a community outreach program aimed at inspiring inner-city kids from 7^th-12^th grade, and lectures take place January-May.
• Doctor’s Day Outreach: Physicians and medical students go into Houston-area elementary, middle and high schools to encourage students to pursue a career in medicine, and discuss how they can start preparing.

Our diversity programs include:

• Summer Medical and Research Training Program: The SMART Program is for undergraduate students interested in exploring a career in scientific research. Thirty percent of participants are underrepresented students.
• SMART PREP Program: The SMART PREP Program works to help underrepresented college graduates prepare for biomedical Ph.D. study.
• Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity: The initiative offers programs to traditionally underrepresented individuals to help optimize Ph.D. student success.
• REACH IRACDA Program: The Houston Research Education and Career Horizon Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award K12 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program collaborates with several institutions to teach research-oriented courses to undergraduates.

See the full list of rankings on the Hispanic Business magazine site.

Have you participated in any of our community programs? Share your experiences here.

-By Jordan Magaziner