Approximately 140 students from universities throughout the Southern California region, as well as local high school students— mostly from ethnic and racial minorities that tend to be underrepresented in the medical profession—came to California State University, Dominguez Hills earlier this month to learn about what they need to do to become doctors.
From CSU Dominguez Hills, Charles Drew University, University of California, Los Angeles, CSU Fullerton, Mt. San Antonio College, Los Angeles City College, Pitzer College, Argosy University, and high school students from the on-campus California Academy of Math and Science, as well as John Glenn, South Gate and Madonna high schools, the students were on campus on Feb. 5 to take part in workshops on the application process, and interview and test-taking skills, as well as interact with current physicians and medical students as part of Tour for Diversity in Medicine. The five-campus tour—a grassroots program to encourage and inspire more minority students to become doctors and dentists by providing them with information and advice from those who were once where they are—made CSU Dominguez Hills its only Southern California stop.
Thomas Landefeld, biology professor of biology and pre-health adviser at CSU Dominguez Hills, was instrumental in bringing the tour to campus. He said he was pleased with what the tour offered the students.
“It was well worth it for all the positive reasons that can contribute to effectively addressing the under representation of minorities in the medical fields,” he said, adding, “I heard from the organizers that the students here were some of the most motivated that they had seen during their tours; from the students, I heard that they were delighted and motivated to see folks that not only looked like them but also shared their types of experiences, especially considering the many hardships that they had experienced and still succeeded.”
For more photos from the Tour for Diversity stop at CSU Dominguez Hills, visit tour4diversity.org/media/photos/february-2014.
