A $1-billion donation by former professor Ruth Gottesman to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx will permit the school to waive student tuition — $63,000 per student per year — in perpetuity. The tuition waiver will enable local students and students from underrepresented groups to pursue medical education.
Healthforce Center at UCSF's Director Sunita Mutha talked with The Lancet to explain how this donation will trickle down by training diverse clinicians who are able help improve health care locally by eliminating disparities and advancing health equity.
Systemic factors that discourage students from pursuing medical school begin far upstream, with disparities in the funding of public grade schools and higher undergraduate loan debt loads. Eliminating student debt up front makes medical careers more accessible to underrepresented groups than forgiving debt after the fact, Mutha said.