Advancing Pediatric Workforce Diversity and Culturally Effective Health Care for a Changing US Child Population: Policy Recommendations for Change: Policy Statement
This policy statement provides recommendations on enhancing pediatrician workforce diversity and providing culturally effective health care (CEHC). It highlights the barriers that racism and other biases create in providing culturally effective pediatric care and achieving child health equity. There are 3 interconnected areas needing greater attention: 1) expanding the underrepresented in medicine (URiM) candidate pool through fostering health career aspirations among diverse youth; 2) enhancing recruitment, retention, and leadership development of URiM pediatricians through facilitating health care system change; and 3) advancing CEHC delivery through synergistic efforts addressing care during clinical encounters, ability to access care, and ongoing improvement processes.
Authors
- Tatiana Ndjatou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7296-5436)
- Rhonda Graves Acholonu
- Fernando Mendoza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5516-4588)
- Kristin N. Ray (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3817-1449)
- Robert Trevino
Institutions
- Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA (United States) (US)
- Children's Mercy Hospital (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell (US)
- Stanford Medicine (US)
- University of Missouri–Kansas City (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PEDIATRICS
- Published
- 2026-11-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2026-079369
- Primary Topic
- Diversity and Career in Medicine
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00