Pathways FAQs

A: The Pathways program is inviting applications from incoming, first-year PES students for the new cohort which will start in Summer/Fall 2023. 

Although the Pathways program has limited enrollment, the Pre-Health Student Resource Center exists to serve all pre-health students - students in all years, all majors, all colleges, and on all campuses.

Please explore our website to learn about the different ways that our office can support you on your journey to a health professional program, including:

• Credit Courses - Health Career Exploration and Application Preparation Topics
• Drop-In Sessions
• Appointments with PHSRC Career Counselors
• Health Program Action Plans

A: At this time the Pathways program is available for students from the UMN - Twin Cities Campus.

However, the PHSRC has been working closely with contacts on all UMN system campuses since 2018 through the Health Profession Pathways Initiative, to better understand how to build stronger support for pre-health students from communities historically underrepresented on those campuses.

If you are a student on the UMN system campuses, including the Crookston campus, Duluth campus, Morris campus, and Rochester campus, please reach out to the Health Profession Pathways Initiative key contact on your campus. 

University of Minnesota Crookston 
Dr. Venu Mukku
[email protected]

University of Minnesota Duluth
Contact TBD

University of Minnesota Morris
Rachel Johnson, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology, Division of Science & Math
[email protected], Sci 1310

University of Minnesota Rochester
Jenn Hooke, M.S.Ed.
Senior Student Success Coach
[email protected], 507-258-8029

A: There are a few different definitions that we're considering when we use the term "historically underrepresented" or "underrepresented". 

The first is the definition from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which describes uses "underrepresented in medicine", and defines it as: "Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population." 

For example, Minnesota has 7% of its population that identifies as 'Black or African American alone'. However, only 2.6% of physicians in the state of Minnesota identify as 'Black'. That shows that people that identify as Black or African American are underrepresented in the physician workforce in Minnesota. 

Another definition that is important to consider is from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Emory University. They define "historically underrepresented" as: 

"This term refers to groups who have been denied access and/or suffered past institutional discrimination in the United States and, according to the Census and other federal measuring tools, includes African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics or Chicanos/Latinos, and Native Americans. This is revealed by an imbalance in the representation of different groups in common pursuits such as education, jobs, and housing, resulting in marginalization for some groups and individuals and not for others, relative to the number of individuals who are members of the population involved."

A: The Health Profession Pathways program was born out of the work of the Health Profession Pathways Initiative , which the Pre-Health Student Resource Center launched in 2018.

The Health Profession Pathways Initiative has a goal of building a more diverse health professional workforce in Minnesota by increasing enrollment for well-prepared students from historically underrepresented communities into health professional programs by reducing barriers that exist for students and building out new opportunities.

The Pathways program enrolled the first group of students in Fall 2021.