Profession
AAMC honors diversity advocate
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 23, 2004
Michael V. Drake, MD, an ophthalmologist and vice president of health affairs for the University of California system, will be presented with an award in November honoring his efforts to improve racial diversity within the medical profession.
Dr. Drake is the fifth recipient of the Herbert W. Nickens, MD, Award given by the Assn. of American Medical Colleges for outstanding contributions to promote justice in medical education and health care.
During his 35-year career, Dr. Drake co-authored a widely-cited study establishing that physicians from underserved populations tend to serve people from those populations.
In his current position as vice president of health affairs for the university system, Dr. Drake leads a federal grant project at University of California San Francisco in which he has initiated a series of bi-national research and student exchange agreements with Mexican universities and government officials.
He also is leading the creation of a dual-degree program that will train physicians specifically to meet the health care needs of California's underserved populations. In addition to his activities at the university level, Dr. Drake was appointed in 2002 to join the California Health Manpower Policy Commission, and to serve on the federal Institute of Medicine committee that produced the 2004 report "In the Nation's Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/08/23/prbf0823.htm.