1246 Cultivating Diversity in the Neurosurgery Pipeline: Early Educational Exposure to Clinical Neuroscience for Undergraduate Students

INTRODUCTION: Despite ongoing efforts to promote greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in neurosurgery, significant disparities persist within the neurosurgical community for those who identify as female and/or an underrepresented minority. This is in part attributed to a lack of early exposure to the field of neurosurgery. METHODS: 102 students were enrolled in a weekly seminar course that was offered for 1 unit of undergraduate course credit. Course structure involved case studies, Socratic group discussions on bioethics, hands-on simulations, and patient interviews in order to humanize neurosurgical conditions. Anonymous online surveys were given at the start of each class. An optional end of course reflection was also collected. RESULTS: At the first class, less than 10% of students indicated that they seriously considered neurosurgery as a possible career. The majority (>80%) joined the class due to the novelty of the class format on the university catalogue. Demographics included mostly first-year undergraduates (39%), then second-year (33%), with the remaining consisting of third- or fourth-year students. 68% of the class identified as female and 39% of the class identified as an underrepresented minority. By the end of the course, over 80% of students responded that they were strongly considering a career in neurosurgery and many of them stated in their end of year reflection that they had not considered going into medicine—let alone neurosurgery—until they experienced this course. CONCLUSIONS: To date, this is the first resident-led formal undergraduate course at this institution that aims to provide early exposure of neurosurgery through a multifaceted curriculum. Adoption of this course format at other institutions can have widespread impact on improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of neurosurgery.