Tulane Urology launches program to introduce students to medicine

Out of the more than 13,000 practicing urologists across the United States, less than 7% are Black or Hispanic. To help address this imbalance, the Department of Urology at Tulane University School of Medicine launched the Purposeful Infrastructure Promoting Equality (PIPE) Scholars program. The initiative encourages students who are underrepresented in medicine to explore careers in healthcare, with the hope that some will ultimately pursue urology. 

Students who have completed two years of college and are interested in a medical career can apply for the program. From the applicant pool, two are chosen to become scholars and spend the summer studying science and conducting research under the mentorship of Tulane Urology faculty.

The PIPE Scholars for summer 2022 are Sydney Ambrose of Xavier University and Brooke Turner of Howard University. Ambrose and Turner are learning basic science research and shadowing faculty in the urology clinic at Tulane Medical Center.

Raju Thomas, MD, Professor and Chair of Tulane Urology, hopes similar programs will be established around the country.

“It’s vital that we have doctors who reflect the patients we treat,” said Thomas. “Our goal is to bring about a sense of representation not only in medicine, but specifically in the much-needed field of urology.”