HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced nine new grants totaling $5.4 million to increase the number of health professionals who are racial or ethnic minorities.  Currently, minorities total more than 25 percent of the total U.S. population but are just 10 percent of the health care workforce.

“Minority health professionals are a tremendous source of information on health promotion, disease prevention and access to care among other members of their communities,” Secretary Thompson said.  “These grants are part of the Bush administration’s commitment to expand access to health care for all Americans.”

The competitive awards, made under the Centers of Excellence program, support education programs targeted to racial and ethnic students who are under-represented in the health professions.  Begun in 1987, Centers of Excellence grants are distributed to qualified schools of medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry and pharmacy.  Since then, more than 250 qualified schools have received Centers of Excellence grants worth $153 million to train some 52,000 students.

Institutions may use the three-year grants to:

• develop a competitive applicant pool;
• improve academic performance;
• recruit and retain faculty who are racial or ethnic minorities;
• improve information resources, clinical education and curricula; and
• train students at community-based health facilities that care for racial/ethnic minority patients.

HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration awards CoE grants and oversees the program.  In addition to the nine new grant recipients announced today, 22 other institutions across the country are current CoE grantees.  The list of today’s new recipients is attached below.

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