title: The Morehouse Faculty Development Program: evolving methods and 10-year outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  African American physicians remain underrepresented among all medical school faculty, including faculty in departments of family medicine. This paper reports on a faculty development effort aimed at increasing the number and academic skills of underrepresented minority faculty.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 1992, Morehouse School of Medicine began a faculty development program. The program trains faculty and community-based preceptors in teaching, scientific writing, grant writing, research, and minority career issues. Formats now include a 1-year longitudinal program, 4-6-week stand-alone modules, and an executive faculty development program for physicians from across the nation. Evaluation measures include participant enrollment, completion rate, participant feedback, and self-reported academic competencies before and after the program.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 113 participants completed the program from 1992-2003. Only seven enrollees failed to complete the program. Of 113 graduates, 104 (92.0%) were ethnically African American, Afro Caribbean, or African, while only two were white, non-Hispanic. More than four out of five (81%) now spend at least some time teaching on a regular basis, and 71% spend more than 25% time in teaching roles. Self-reported before-after competencies in specific academic skills such as teaching, writing, research, and grant writing rose from 2.7 to 4.1 on a 5-point scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Faculty development is a potentially effective strategy for increasing diversity in academic primary care. Historically black and Hispanicserving institutions can make contributions to training minority faculty. More-rigorous study could elucidate which program elements have the greatest effect on minority faculty academic career choice, scholarly productivity, and career trajectory and the extent to which these programs could be adapted to majority institutions.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Primary Care and the Department of Family Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, GA 30310, USA. grust@msm.edu
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rust
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herbert-Carter
authors.forename: Quentin Ted
authors.initials: QT
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Kathi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Earles
authors.forename: Kofi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondwani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013192:Staff Development / Q000458:organization & administration*