Physicians Speak from the Heart with the Hope of Inspiring Minority Children to Become Future Doctors

WHAT:

Nine physicians will speak candidly to dozens of middle school students and their parents about the fears, struggles, challenges and obstacles they overcame to become physicians. This event is the first component of a program, known as "The Hippocrates Circle," that encourages primarily minority middle school students to seriously consider medical school as an option.

WHEN:

Thursday, February 16, 2006 at 6:30 p.m.

WHERE:

Roosevelt Theodore Middle School, 222 East Acacia Ave., Glendale, CA 91206

WHY:

A 2002 Institute of Medicine report shows that only 5 percent of physicians in the United States are non-white. Latinos represent 13 percent of the U.S. population, but only 2.5 percent of its doctors - about the same percentage as African-Americans, according to the report.

Several Kaiser Permanente physicians, of various ethnicities, who have different stories but one shared dream, hope to inspire and motivate the students to one day become doctors. The students were selected through teacher recommendations, written essays, and expressed student interest. They will participate in various activities, including a hospital rotation and a visit to a university medical school with their mentor doctors.