With the recent US Supreme Court decision striking down race-conscious admissions in higher education, institutions are looking to California where the practice has been banned in public schools for nearly 3 decades. Over the past 15 years, UC Davis School of Medicine has tripled enrollment of students from historically excluded groups by developing an admissions model that prioritizes workforce needs and attention to the mission fit, lived experience, and socioeconomic background of each applicant. Dr. Henderson will discuss lessons from UC Davis to assist educational institutions seeking to uphold a commitment to health and education equity.
Presenter Bios
Mark Henderson
Mark Henderson, M.D., is Professor of Internal Medicine and Associate Dean for Admissions at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Henderson is the community of practice lead for UC Davis’s Health Resources and Services Administration-funded national Center for a Diverse Healthcare Workforce and an expert in reforming medical school admissions practices to enhance racial-ethnic and economic diversity. Over the past 17 years, he led UC Davis’s efforts to become one of the most diverse medical schools in the U.S.
He is co-principal investigator of the Accelerated Competency-based Education in Primary Care (ACE-PC) program, a 3-year medical school track for students committed to primary care careers, and the California Oregon Medical Partnership to Address Disparities in Rural Education and Health (COMPADRE), both funded by the American Medical Association. COMPADRE is a cross-state partnership between UC Davis and Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) that aims to transform the physician workforce by admitting and training students from rural and tribal communities for future practice in these underserved communities.
Henderson holds the Dean’s Endowed Chair in Teaching Excellence and teaches a UC Davis Study Abroad course in Spain.