Premedical Education
Donald A. Barr, MD, PhD, Associate Professor (Teaching), has an ongoing program of research that examines barriers in premedical education to expanding the diversity of the medical profession, and the need for curricular reform in premedical education. He recently completed a longitudinal study of premedical students at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Data from surveys of several hundred students at each campus documented the disproportionate decline in interest among students from underrepresented minority groups in persisting in premedical education. Additional data from more than 60 interviews at each campus with current or former premedical students demonstrated that early experiences in science courses, especially chemistry, were the principal factor contributing to the observed decline in interest in pursuing a medical education.
His research results have been reported in two recent publications (Academic Medicine. 2008; 83:503-11; Advances in Health Sciences Education, published on line 6/9/09), and are an important part of his forthcoming book (Questioning the Premedical Paradigm: Enhancing Diversity in the Medical Profession a Century After the Flexner Report. Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming March 2010). Based on his work in this area, Prof. Barr has been asked to join panels at the Harvard School of Medicine and the City University of New York that to exam medical and premedical education reform.
