Promoting diversity in neurosurgery: a multi-institutional scholarship-based approach

The lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion are problems that have come to the forefront of graduate medical education and medical training in recent years. Despite initiatives made by national organizations to improve equity, neurosurgery still ranks among the lowest in medicine for diversity when compared with surgical and nonsurgical subspecialties. Three main racial/ethnic groups are considered underrepresented in the medical sciences: Black, Hispanic, and Native American. The lower presence of underrepresented minority (URM) physicians in competitive subspecialties brings about a cyclic effect—a lack of URM mentorship and programming hinders the recruitment of URM medical students into these subspecialties. In this article, we examine the history of the lack of racial/ethnic diversity in neurosurgery and describe the creation and implementation of a neurosurgery summer scholarship program for Black medical and graduate students, which originated at the University of Miami. Lastly, we discuss the potential longitudinal effects of the program and outline the next steps for increasing diversity in neurosurgery.