Minority Affairs Committee Scientific Workshop

Achieving Diversity in the Field of Epidemiology: Progress Made, Challenges and Opportunities

Saturday, September 12th, 2009
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Washington DC – Silver Spring, MD

Workshop Overview

The mission of the Minority Affairs Committee of the American College of Epidemiology is to increase minority representation in the epidemiology profession and to recommend actions that increase the likelihood of significantepidemiologic researchon health issues important  to racial/ethnic minority populations.  During this year’s American College of Epidemiology Annual Conference, we dedicate our all-day pre-conference Scientific Workshop to issues related to achieving diversity in the field of epidemiology.

The goal of the workshop is primarily to aid workshop participants and secondarily to assist interested epidemiologists and policymakers to learn about the causes of the under-representation of racial and ethnic minorities in the epidemiologic profession, and to discussways to reduce this inequity, particularly in the field of health disparities research.  Specifically we will explore themes related to:

• Obstacles and solutions to increasing diversity in the epidemiology profession.
• The social context that hinders the entrance of members of racial/ethnic minorities into higher education in science and health related professions.
• Barriers to advancement of racial/ethnic minority epidemiologists in the profession.
• Examples of practices and achievements that attract minorities into the epidemiology profession
• Recommending next steps within the Epidemiology profession and among policy makers

American College of Epidemiology’s Minority Affairs Committee Scientific Workshop
“Achieving Diversity in the Field of Epidemiology: Progress Made, Challenges and  opportunities” Washington DC – Silver Spring, September 12, 2009