Diversifying the Surgical Workforce: Understanding Barriers to Inform Solutions.

Objectives: Race and gender concordance between physicians and patients is associated with reductions in healthcare disparities. However, the diversity of the medical workforce does not mirror the population; some of the greatest deficiencies exist in the surgical workforce. We conducted a pilot study focused on early recruitment of diverse college students in our region, with a concurrent needs assessment of their specific barriers to entering the field of surgery.