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Comment & Response
April 2014

Efforts to Diversify the Academic Pediatric Workforce–—Reply

Author Affiliations
  • 1Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle
  • 2Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle
JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(4):391. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.4876

In Reply We thank Thompson and colleagues for highlighting the Academic Pediatric Association’s successful New Century Scholars program. We congratulate them on their leadership in this area and the long-term success their program has yielded for those who have participated. We add that the American Association of Pediatric Chairs has also begun leadership initiatives with an emphasis on diverse underrepresented faculty as well. These programs are important in highlighting the need to diversify our faculty and they emphasize the high return on investment. It is, however, important to realize that a national collaborative agenda to promote and develop a diverse and inclusive workforce in the United States is still missing. Our pediatric organizations must learn from best practices like the New Century Scholars program and work together to visibly and substantively commit to widely adopt strategies to have a workforce that is ready to meet the health care needs of an increasingly diverse pediatric population.

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