The eloquent statement on the status of Negro medical care and education in the United States by the eminent anatomist, Dr. W. Montague Cobb (Brown America's Medical Diaspora: A Paradox of Democracy, in The Pediatrician and The Public, Pediatrics 3:854, 1949) requires the attention of all physicians interested in the distribution of medical care. Although pediatricians cannot begin to assume responsibility for this entire problem, it is possible to demonstrate leadership in the same manner in which the Academy study of infant and child health services provided leadership to the profession and the public.
We refer specifically to an extension of training facilities in pediatrics for Negro physicians. Certainly 15 certified Negro pediatricians in a country with 14,000,000 Negro people represents a serious discrepancy in the distribution of training facilities. Admittedly most of the problem has its origin in the distribution of training facilities for undergraduate students and the basic problems responsible for this situation. However, we have observed—as has Dr. Cobb—that many Negro physicians desiring training in pediatrics (as well as other specialties) are discouraged from applying for training because of what seems to be a dearth of positions open to them. It has been our impression, however, that many centers would consider Negroes for training appointments if qualified applicants applied. Would it not be advisable, therefore, for the American Board of Pediatrics to circularize the approved training centers in pediatrics in order to establish a roster of those centers which would consider Negro applicants for training positions?
Opportunities for evaluating chemical exposures and child health in the United States: the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program