Representation in enrollment of African American female and Latina students is inconsistent with the demographic makeup across the United States. Exploring the experiences of current and past students at one southeastern medical school assisted in determining a possible cause for that underrepresentation. Two questions guided this study: (1) How do underrepresented minority (URM) females describe their decision to pursue medical education? (2) How did cultural, societal, or familial experiences or expectations influence these URM females to pursue medical education? This study employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology with a Critical Race Feminism framework to gather the stories of female medical students from those URM backgrounds. Significant findings include a strong support system within an academically intense family, a strong maternal role-model, financial constraints, a need for more science, technology, engineering, and math programs during formative education, and a desire for community within academia. These findings also suggest a need for reconsideration of intersectionality and anti-essentialism within pipeline programs and the approach that medical schools take to recruiting. Incorporating those changes will ultimately increase proportionate representation of minority females within US medical schools.
","abstract_html":"<p>Representation in enrollment of African American female and Latina students is inconsistent with the demographic makeup across the United States. Exploring the experiences of current and past students at one southeastern medical school assisted in determining a possible cause for that underrepresentation. Two questions guided this study: (1) How do underrepresented minority (URM) females describe their decision to pursue medical education? (2) How did cultural, societal, or familial experiences or expectations influence these URM females to pursue medical education? This study employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology with a Critical Race Feminism framework to gather the stories of female medical students from those URM backgrounds. Significant findings include a strong support system within an academically intense family, a strong maternal role-model, financial constraints, a need for more science, technology, engineering, and math programs during formative education, and a desire for community within academia. These findings also suggest a need for reconsideration of intersectionality and anti-essentialism within pipeline programs and the approach that medical schools take to recruiting. Incorporating those changes will ultimately increase proportionate representation of minority females within US medical schools.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Holmes, Brianne"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education (EdD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ella Benson","Ashwini Wagle","Daniel Marlowe"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-03-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-03-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:21:34Z","subjects":["Educational Leadership","Higher Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dune.une.edu/theses/360","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ella Benson","Ashwini Wagle","Daniel Marlowe"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Holmes, Brianne"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-05-05T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Educational Leadership","Higher Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dune.une.edu/theses/360"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Representation in enrollment of African American female and Latina students is inconsistent with the demographic makeup across the United States. Exploring the experiences of current and past students at one southeastern medical school assisted in determining a possible cause for that underrepresentation. Two questions guided this study: (1) How do underrepresented minority (URM) females describe their decision to pursue medical education? (2) How did cultural, societal, or familial experiences or expectations influence these URM females to pursue medical education? This study employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology with a Critical Race Feminism framework to gather the stories of female medical students from those URM backgrounds. Significant findings include a strong support system within an academically intense family, a strong maternal role-model, financial constraints, a need for more science, technology, engineering, and math programs during formative education, and a desire for community within academia. These findings also suggest a need for reconsideration of intersectionality and anti-essentialism within pipeline programs and the approach that medical schools take to recruiting. Incorporating those changes will ultimately increase proportionate representation of minority females within US medical schools.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Influences On And Experiences Of Underrepresented Minority Females In One Southeastern United States Medical School"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ella Benson","Ashwini Wagle","Daniel Marlowe"],"dc:creator":["Holmes, Brianne"],"dc:date.available":["2021-05-05T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Representation in enrollment of African American female and Latina students is inconsistent with the demographic makeup across the United States. Exploring the experiences of current and past students at one southeastern medical school assisted in determining a possible cause for that underrepresentation. Two questions guided this study: (1) How do underrepresented minority (URM) females describe their decision to pursue medical education? (2) How did cultural, societal, or familial experiences or expectations influence these URM females to pursue medical education? This study employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology with a Critical Race Feminism framework to gather the stories of female medical students from those URM backgrounds. Significant findings include a strong support system within an academically intense family, a strong maternal role-model, financial constraints, a need for more science, technology, engineering, and math programs during formative education, and a desire for community within academia. These findings also suggest a need for reconsideration of intersectionality and anti-essentialism within pipeline programs and the approach that medical schools take to recruiting. Incorporating those changes will ultimately increase proportionate representation of minority females within US medical schools.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dune.une.edu/theses/360"],"dc:subject":["Educational Leadership","Higher Education"],"dc:title":["The Influences On And Experiences Of Underrepresented Minority Females In One Southeastern United States Medical School"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:21:34Z"}