/ Modified aug 7, 2015 6:33 p.m.

AZ WEEK: Diversifying the Health-Care Workforce

University of Arizona programs works to spark interest among minorities starting in high school.

More than one-third of Arizona's population is Latino and Native American, but that number is not represented in the health field. Arizona Week Friday looks at University of Arizona's efforts to increase the minority workforce.

On the program:

  • An interview with Skip Garcia, senior vice president for health sciences at the Arizona Health Sciences Center. The organization runs several programs to foster more diversity in the health-care industry.

  • Two first-year medical students explain how the center’s programs prepared them for medical school. Listen to an audio version of this interview:

  • Border Latino and American Indian Summer Exposure to Research, also known as Blaiser, is the center’s newest program. The paid research program gives undergraduate students from underrepresented communities a chance to work on with biomedical researchers or medical scientists.

  • One of the UA’s early efforts to increase diversity in the field is Med-Start. Every year since 1969, the program has welcomed high school students from Arizona’s most remote and underrepresented communities. Assistant UA Medical School Dean Carlos Gonzales said he wouldn’t be here without the program.

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