UNC SOM Students Co-author NEJM Perspective Piece

Medical students Lorena Millo and Noelani Ho co-authored a perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, with senior author Peter Ubel, MD, at Duke University, titled: “The Cost of Applying to Medical School — A Barrier to Diversifying the Profession.”

For those without a subscription to the journal, you can sign up for access to three free articles a month.

Here is an excerpt:

The median cost of attending medical school in the United States has risen substantially over the past decade. Rising in tandem with the cost of attendance has been the median amount of educational debt held by medical school graduates, which grew to $200,000 in 2018, a 4% increase over the previous year. This financial burden represents an important barrier to becoming a physician, especially for prospective students from marginalized or disadvantaged backgrounds. Some medical schools have attempted to ease this burden by offering full need-based scholarships. Although such aid packages are a sign of progress, similar attention hasn’t been given to the costs that applicants incur before enrolling; applying to medical school may be prohibitively expensive for low-income people.