Army Lt. Col. Otha Myles, deputy chief of epidemiology and threat assessment at Walter Reed Army Institute in Bethesda and a graduate of University of Maryland School of Medicine, set up a scholarship to encourage underserved minorities to become doctors, in honor of his mentor Donald Wilson, former dean of his alma mater.
He spoke with The Examiner about the scholarship.
Why did you set up this scholarship?
The reason came as Dr. Wilson, my mentor and dean of University of Maryland School of Medicine for 15 years, was leaving.
We wanted to do something that would honor him and the work he has done.
In the 15 years he was there, one of the biggest things he did [was] his commitment to diversity, so we thought the best way would be to bring in a more diverse group to the university.
Why are there so few minority doctors?
Even though African-Americans, Latinos [and Native Americans] make up 25 percent of the population, only 12 percent of [medical] students are from those groups and about 6 percent of all practicing physicians are members of minority groups.
There seems to be a huge pipeline problem in reference to people applying for medical school.
A lot of underrepresented kids don’t have the money to go to medical school, so they don’t ever dream to aspire to that.
Why is it important to have more minority doctors?
The people in these communities offering care are usually minority groups.
When they enter medical school, 90 percent of people say they want to go back into the underserved areas, but when you look to see what happens, only 30 percent go into these communities.
What is your fundraising goal?
Our goal is $2 million over the next five years, so we can award $10,000 scholarships to worthy candidates.
We aren’t limited to minorities who apply, but they have to be willing to go back and work with these underserved groups of people.
