by Seroll Burt
April 3, 2025
The lack of Black student enrollment in medical schools puts a pause on developing a more diverse physician workforce to improve public health.
A number of healthcare leaders and medical experts are starting to regret failing to openly express concern about President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) appointee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prior to his confirmation, after recent mass layoffsPolitico reports.
After thousands of agency employees learned their roles were being eliminated with notices dated Apr. 1, industry leaders are speaking out after ultimately agreeing to work with the new White House administration. “While we support improving FDA efficiency to deliver more affordable generic and biosimilar medicines to patients faster, many of the reported cuts appear to do the opposite,” CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines, John Murphy, said.
Thoughts from the leader, whose organization represents generic drugmakers, are shared by industry trade groups like Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), who are questioning the true reason behind the layoffs. “We recognize the need to find efficiencies, but it’s critical the FDA has the expertise and capacity it needs to maintain its gold standard regulatory review,” PhRMA spokesperson Alex Schriver said.
“The rapid and substantial changes at FDA this week raise questions about the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission to bring new innovative medicines to patients.”
Fear of the future of healthcare is raising concern for Black medical students with aspirations of helping those in need. Across the nation, medical schools have seen a sharp decline in enrollment from Black students, dropping by 11.6% from the 2024-2025 academic year, following the controversial Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative admissions in college admissions. President and CEO of Meharry Medical College, James E.K. Hildreth Sr., MD, expressed grave concern over the numbers.
The leader of the nation’s largest historically Black medical school admitted that he wasn’t surprised that fewer Black students were enrolling after the ruling, but more so shocked at how quickly. “Once the decision was made by the Supreme Court to do away with affirmative action, we expected this drop to occur because we have discovered or learned that without proactive steps to ensure that minorities have a chance to gain admission to medical school, that this was going to happen,” Hildreth said, according to Chief Healthcare Executive.
“It is worse than we might have expected. I mean, many, many medical schools have worked really hard to ensure that they’re training a diverse healthcare workforce.”
He highlighted the need to develop a more diverse physician workforce in efforts to improve public health and combat systemic racism in the field. Studies revealed that students who are exposed to the history of Black people’s experiences in the healthcare space are more likely to point out racist treatment when they see it.
With top agency leaders like Julie Tierney, who oversees vaccines, being placed on leave and top FDA vaccine regulator Peter Marks forced to resign in late March 2025, lobbyists say there are “lots of concerns” about the talent pool as a result of the firings. One highlighted that, with user fees not being used as intended and approvals not moving quickly enough, there is a chance that investors could be “spooked” away from the sector.
The National Health Council, whose members include trade groups representing drugmakers, insurers, healthcare companies, and patient groups, also spoke out about the job cuts, claiming they will hurt the accessibility and affordability of health care.
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