Auseon, who now oversees the cardiology fellowship program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said another challenge is that there simply aren’t a lot of minority medical school graduates. And among medical school graduates overall, he wonders whether some may not apply because cardiology training is among the most challenging and demanding in medicine or they may not want to confront the life-or-death situations linked to heart disease.
Having more Hispanic and Latino cardiology students isn’t just good for their eventual patients, it’s also good for medical programs, said Urey, who is of Guatemalan and Bolivian heritage. Training with people from different ethnic, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds better prepares doctors to care for a more diverse group of patients and better understand the health issues and cardiovascular disease risk factors that are unique to a particular ethnic group, he said.
Cardiologist Tony Urey, M.D., second from right, with colleagues at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. (Photo by Cathy Frisinger/UT Southwestern)
That’s especially important considering the growth of the U.S. Hispanic and Latino population, which rose from 50.5 million in 2010 to 56.6 million in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the second-leading cause of death among Hispanics and Latinos, who are more likely than whites to be obese, have diabetes and be physically inactive — all risk factors for heart disease.
“Some of these [Hispanic and Latino] communities have been largely underserved for decades,” said Urey. “Having someone that understands the culture, speaks the language and has gone through some of the challenges the patients face is, I think, something that will benefit patient care — but also training of non-Latino physicians.”
