Lack of diversity among cardiovascular health-care professionals continues


Despite working for more than two decades to address underrepresentation of women in cardiology, disparities among cardiovascular professionals continue to exist. Profound inequities also exist for individuals underrepresented in medicine, such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans, who constitute 32 percent of the U.S. population but only eight percent of practicing cardiologists.
“The disparities amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic present disturbing evidence that we are far from cardiovascular healthcare equity in the work place,” says Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and corresponding author of a Comment in the journal Nature Reviews Cardiology. “Individuals, leaders and institutions must prioritize research, policies, and structures to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging that is essential to advancing workforce excellence and cardiovascular health.”
Diversity and equity in the health-care workforce have been shown to benefit patients and