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Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity

Health Workforce Diversity Initiative

Publications

Research Spotlight

Documenting Latino Representation in the US Health Workforce (Islas I, Brantley E, Portela Martinez M, et al., 2023)

  • Latinos were underrepresented overall in most of the health diagnosing and treating professions.
  • Analyzing the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System data for 2010–12 and 2019–21 graduates, we found that among health professions, the greater the required years of education for entry, the lower the diversity index among Latinos. 

Articles

Key Findings: This data indicates that although the AANHPI population is well represented as a collective population, there are population groups that are underrepresented, including the other Southeast Asian and NHPI populations in general. There is also considerable underrepresentation of AANHPI populations in the behavioral health workforce.

 

Citation: Ha E, Dobkin F, Portela M, Herring J, and Salsberg E. Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islander Population Group Representation In The US Health Workforce. Health Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01069 

Key Findings: The author compares efforts to diversify the health workforce in the US (Black and Hispanic representation) and Israel (Arab Israeli representation). Minorities in each country face similar barriers, although there are significant differences.

 

Citation: Salsberg, E. Diversifying the health workforce in Israel and the United States: a comparison. Isr J Health Policy Res 14, 32 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13584-025-00694-4​  

Key Findings: Although the numbers of Black/Hispanic graduates increased from 2010 to 2012 to 2019 to 2021, the percentage of Black graduates decreased.

 

Citation: Ritsema, Tamara S. PhD, MPH, PA-C/R; Herring, Jordan R. MS; Straker, Howard O. EdD, MPH, PA-C; Salsberg, Edward MPA, FAAN. Assessing the Racial and Ethnic Diversity of Physician Assistant/Associate Program Graduates from 2010 to 2012 and 2019 to 2021. The Journal of Physician Assistant Education 35(3):p 252-261, September 2024. | DOI: 10.1097/JPA.0000000000000602 

Key Findings:

  • Latinos were underrepresented overall in most of the health diagnosing and treating professions.
  • Analyzing the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System data for 2010–12 and 2019–21 graduates, we found that among health professions, the greater the required years of education for entry, the lower the diversity index among Latinos. 

 

Citation: Islas I, Brantley E, Portela Martinez M, et al. Documenting Latino Representation in the US Health Workforce. Health Affairs. 2023; 42(7). 

Key Findings: Although the diversity of the public health educational pipeline has shown an upward trend, racial and ethnic minority graduates continue to remain underrepresented in public health.

Citation: Vichare A, Park Y, Plepys C. Diversity of the US Public Health Workforce Pipeline (2016–2020): Role of Academic Institutions. AJPH. 2023; pp. e1-e9. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307352.​

Key Findings: Representation of minoritized populations among graduates continues to be significantly lower compared with U.S. benchmark populations. Only 16% of PharmD programs had a Diversity Index that matched or exceeded their benchmark comparator Black or Hispanic populations. 

Citation: Rao K, Mitrzyk B, Tillman F, et al. Utilization of a “Diversity Index” to Assess Racial Diversity of US School of Pharmacy Graduates. Am. J. Pharm. Educ. 2023. doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpe.2023.100568.​

Key Findings:

  • Black, Hispanic, and Native American people are underrepresented in 10 health care professions.
  • Although the educational pipeline shows some limited improvement compared to the current workforce, underrepresentation persists.

 

Citation: Salsberg E, Richwine C, Westergaard S, et al. Estimation and Comparison of Current and Future Racial/Ethnic Representation in the US Health Care Workforce. JAMA Network Open. 2021;4(3):e213789. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.3789

Key Findings:

  • While the number of Black graduates in dentistry increased the past decade, the percent of graduates who are Black decreased from 6% to 5%. Meanwhile, the percentage of Hispanic graduates increased from 6% to 9%.
  • Among the 63 dental schools with graduates in 2017-2019 in the US, 56 schools had a Diversity Index less than 0.5 for Black graduates and 43 had a DI below 0.5 for Hispanic graduates, indicating that representation of these graduates is less than half than what would be expected based on the population. 


​Citation: Salsberg E, Brantley E, Westergaard S, Farrell J, Rosenthal C. Limited, Uneven Progress is Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity of Dental School Graduates. Journal of Dental Education. 2022;86(1):107-116. 
doi:10.1002/jdd.12793. Epub 2021 Sep 20.

Key Findings: Summarizes the key federal data sources that make the Health Workforce Diversity Initiative reports possible. Countries outside the United States might benefit from tracking similar data on demographics relevant to their local context. 

Citation: Oyeyemi T, Salsberg E, Westergaard S, Farrell J. Lessons Learned from Workforce Diversity Tracker for Global Health. Social Innovations Journal. 2021;8.

State-Level Reports

Key Findings:

  • The proportion of health professions students who are Hispanic is increasing, but not high enough to reach parity with Florida’s college-aged population.
  • Hispanic individuals are underrepresented in all health professions requiring higher education (i.e., Master’s level or higher).
  • Black individuals are underrepresented in most health professions requiring advanced education and their representation is decreasing in most of the professions studied.
  • Asian/Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (NHPI) individuals in health professions education are well represented and increasing in most health professions.
  • Institution level data documents wide variation between schools of a given profession. For example, for nursing graduates between 2019-2021, 21 of 93 programs had a graduating class that was less than 10% Hispanic at a time when 30% of Florida’s college-aged population was Hispanic.

 

Citation: Bogucki C, Salsberg E. The Race and Ethnicity of the Florida Health Workforce. Social Mission Alliance, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2024. 

Key Findings

  • Black individuals make up a large share of Louisiana’s college age population compared to the nation (35.2% compared to 13.7%) but are largely underrepresented as graduates from Louisiana’s health profession programs.
  • Compared to the nation, the Hispanic college age population in Louisiana is relatively small (6.1% compared to 21.1%). Still, Hispanic graduates are underrepresented in almost all health profession programs.

 

Citation: Bogucki C, Salsberg E. The Race and Ethnicity of the Louisiana Health Workforce. Social Mission Alliance, Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2023. 

Key Findings:

  • Hispanic workers comprise 38% of California’s labor force, but only 7% of physicians, 8% of dentists and 3% of pharmacists. Mexican Americans alone represent almost 31% of the labor force in California, but less than 4% of physicians.
  • Black and Hispanic workers are very underrepresented in the health workforce and, while new graduates are more diverse than the current workforce, Black and Hispanic students are still underrepresented in most professions requiring post-secondary education.

Citation: Bogucki C, Brantley E, Salsberg E. The Race and Ethnicity of the California Health Workforce. Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity. Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2022.

The Race and Ethnicity of the Florida Health Workforce
Race and Ethnicity of the Louisiana Health Workforce
The race and ethnicity of the California health workforce