The program will provide scholarships for local New York City college students to participate in an MCAT preparatory course while also providing a range of supportive services including mentorship and strategies for successfully applying to medical school.

Dr. Straker – who serves as Vice Chair of the Committee on Professional Diversity at the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and who was recently elected Vice Speaker of the ASA House of Delegates – is creating the program in partnership with Dr. Lynne Holden, Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The ASA is sponsoring the new program, and Medtronic – a healthcare technology company – is providing funding. In its first year, the program will support three URiM college students applying to medical school during the 2024 Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) cycle and will evaluate applicants based on academic performance, an application essay, and community service.

Dr. Straker explained that the new “MCAT pathway program” is being designed to specifically support URiM males, who are disproportionately underrepresented among physicians, as well as other racial and ethnic groups that are underrepresented among health care professionals.

“I’ve been involved in quite a few initiatives around the country and the city, and this is something that has been missing,” Dr. Straker said. “There hasn’t been anything at the college level to support URiM students and specifically Black men. This program highlights the need for support at every ‘rung’ on the ladder to achievement and underscores a deficiency in the ladder at the college level for URiM students on the trajectory to becoming a physician.”

In addition to providing scholarships for an MCAT preparation course, participating students will receive a range of holistic services including tutors for pre-med courses, wellness support, medical school application essay review, and mock interview sessions – programs that would collectively cost about $3,000 per student.

Dr. Holden is partnering with Dr. Straker on the new initiative and has a breadth of experience in this area as co-founder and President Emeritus of Mentoring in Medicine, Inc. – a nonprofit organization that provides mentorship and leadership development to low-income students on the career path to becoming medical professionals.

“Providing academic resources and mentorship to this underrepresented group in medicine is of critical importance to improving health care in the Bronx and beyond,” Dr. Holden said. “The Office of Diversity and Inclusion is delighted to work collaboratively to support Dr. Straker and the Department of Anesthesiology in this new endeavor.”

Dr. Straker stressed that tracking the success of program participants and evaluating the efficacy of the program will be an important tool for future expansion. Once the program is launched in New York, Dr. Straker plans to engage ASA colleagues across the country to further develop the program in different geographic areas.

"I’m really excited to be launching this program, and the goal is to eventually branch out to colleges and medical schools nationally,” she said.