Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles recently conducted a study to analyze the number of doctors in the United States. The data set comprised approximately 150,000 doctors, including about 3,300 black doctors and 1,600 African-American doctors. The research revealed that in 1900, only 1.3 percent of the U. S.
population were black doctors. The study also found that there continues to be a significant income gap between Caucasian and black male physicians. According to the study authors, this disparity is likely the result of multiple factors, including wage discrimination and unequal access to career opportunities. The decline in the proportion of doctors who were black that occurred after 1940 may be the result of the closure of historically black medical schools at the turn of the century.
John Henry Jordan, Briny's brother, was the first African-American doctor in Coweta County, Georgia. More than a century later, black doctors still face barriers when it comes to educational opportunities and career advancement. One possible cause of these persistent racial income differentials may be that there are fewer black doctors in better-reimbursed specialties. By 1940, 9.7 percent of the population was African American and 2.8 percent of doctors were black; 2.7 percent were black men and only 0.1 percent were black women.
Projected estimates of African-American medical graduates from historically black medical schools closed. Income differences between black and white doctors were statistically significant each year of the survey, according to Ly. The research also highlights a significant income gap between black and white male physicians, a disparity that could reflect a combination of wage discrimination and unequal access for doctors to pursue careers in more lucrative specialties. It has increased by only 4 percentage points in the last 120 years, and that the proportion of doctors who are black men remains unchanged since 1940. The UCLA study appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and reveals that despite some progress over the past 120 years, there is still a persistent racial disparity in the number of black doctors. This is an issue that needs to be addressed if we are to achieve true equality in healthcare.
