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Bridging the Technology Divide in the COVID-19 Era: Using Virtual Outreach to Expose Middle and High School Students to Imaging Technology

Increasing the diversity of students choosing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is an area of intense focus ...

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Precision public health requires research that supports innovative systems and health delivery approaches, programs, and policies that are part of this vision. This study estimated the effects of health insurance mandate (HiM) variations and the effects of physician utilization on moderating colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates. A time-series analysis using a difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) approach was conducted on CRC screenings (1997-2014) using a multivariate logistic framework. Key variables of interest were HiM, CRC screening status, and physician utilization. The adjusted average marginal effects from the DDD model indicate that physician utilization increased the probability of being "up-to-date" vs. non-compliance by 9.9% points (p = 0.007), suggesting that an estimated 8.85 million additional age-eligible persons would receive a CRC screening with HiM and routine physician visits. Routine physician visits and mandates that lower out-of-pocket expenses constitute an effective approach to increasing CRC screenings for persons ready to take advantage of such policies.

Insurance coverage mandates: Impact of physician utilization in moderating colorectal cancer screening rates.

Current challenges to affirmative action policies are cause for concern for medical schools that employ holistic admissions processes, which consider an applicant's race, ethnicity, gender, status as a first-generation college student, educational and socioeconomic status, geographical location, past experiences with minority and underserved populations, social capital, and immigration status. Students from minority and underserved communities bring with them experiences and perspectives that may enhance the care they provide to underserved patients, improving patient outcomes. Student body diversity is also associated with increases in students' academic performance, retention, community engagement, cooperation, and openness to different ideas and perspectives, and institutions that foster diversity tend to be nurturing places where all students and faculty can thrive.The use of race as a factor in admissions has been upheld in three Supreme Court decisions. Yet, the Supreme Court likely will rule again on this issue. In the meantime, medical schools must maintain or increase support for science, technology, engineering, and math academic enrichment programs at all levels, stay informed about their institutional climate, and support a holistic admissions process that considers race and socioeconomic status. Doing so will help disadvantaged students overcome the intergenerational barriers created by race, ethnicity, and poverty and help grow a culturally competent health care workforce, which is essential to improving individual and population health and narrowing racial and ethnic health disparities.

Affirmative Action and Holistic Review in Medical School Admissions: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going.

The purpose of this study was to identify performance measures of racially underrepresented minority (RUM) Ph.D. trainees who needed additional training initiatives to assist with completing the UAMS biomedical science degree. A sample of 37 trainees in the 10-year NIH-NIGMS funded Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) were examined. Descriptive statistics and correlations examined process measures (GRE scores, GPAs, etc.) and outcome measures (time-to-degree, publications, post-doctoral fellowship, etc.) While differences were found, there were no statistically significant differences between how these two groups (Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominately White Institutions (PWIs)) of students performed over time as Ph.D. students. Graduates who scored lower on the verbal section of the GRE also had a higher final graduate school grade point average in graduates who received their undergraduate training from HBCUs. Of the graduates who received their undergraduate training from PWIs, graduates who scored lower on the quantitative section of the GRE had higher numbers of publications. These findings stimulate the need to 1) reduce reliance on the use of the GRE in admission committee decisions, 2) identify psychometrically valid indicators that tailored to assess outcome variables that are relevant to the careers of biomedical scientists, and 3) ensure the effective use of the tools in making admission decisions.

Performance measures of racially underrepresented Ph.D. students in biomedical sciences: The UAMS IMSD Program Outcomes.

To compare parental reports of recent diagnoses of anxiety, depression, and/or behavioral/conduct disorder among former preterm (PT) and term adolescents by race/ethnicity and evaluate receipt of mental healthcare within the past year among those adolescents with any of these conditions.

Article	Year
Insurance coverage mandates: Impact of physician utilization in moderating colorectal cancer screening rates. American journal of surgery\| PubMed ID: 29555083	2018
Affirmative Action and Holistic Review in Medical School Admissions: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges\| PubMed ID: 30277960	2019
Performance measures of racially underrepresented Ph.D. students in biomedical sciences: The UAMS IMSD Program Outcomes. PloS one\| PubMed ID: 33556126	2021
Anxiety, Depression, and Behavioral and/or Conduct Disorder in Adolescence Among Former Preterm and Term Infants of Different Race and Ethnicities. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities\| PubMed ID: 35578153	2022

Billy R. Thomas

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