Health Professional Student Association

Healthcare systems in the United States struggle with addressing substantial disparities in population health and healthcare. One key factor in these disparities is that large parts of the U.S. have significant shortages of primary, dental, or mental health care providers.

These shortages exist, in part, because students who are from these areas don’t become doctoral-level healthcare providers. Students from wealthier backgrounds are more likely to practice in affluent areas similar to where they grew up. Physician and other healthcare shortages perpetuate because medical school and other health professional classes skew toward students from wealthy households, and wealthier students go on to serve fewer patients from urban and rural underserved communities.

HPSA aims to increase the number of healthcare providers in underserved areas by supporting students from underserved areas to enroll in and successfully complete health professional programs.

HPSA aims to increase the number of healthcare providers in underserved areas by supporting students from underserved areas to enroll in and complete health professional programs. There are multiple reasons why students from underserved areas do not become healthcare providers, but one key factor is an information gap. Numerous studies have identified that lack of information is a crucial reason why students from underserved communities do not pursue doctoral-level health professional programs.

HPSA works to provide students from underserved areas with the information to become successful applicants to health professional schools. HPSA delivers this information to students via the internet or through in-person programs.

HPSA publishes the Student Doctor Network (SDN), a vibrant online community of prehealth and health professional students and practicing doctors. Through this community, we can distribute information and access to internet-based tools to support students on their admissions journeys. In addition, through virtual distribution, we reach students who would otherwise not have access to advising services, such as non-traditional students.

In addition to using the Student Doctor Network to disseminate information, HPSA partners with other nonprofits and schools to increase our reach.

Our advising experts answered more than 1,300 student questions this past year, and our student members accessed our "How To" admissions guides more than 150 times per week. The 2021 Open Data for Good Grand Challenge named a new tool, Activity Finder, as a prize winner in the Health and COVID-19 category. In February 2022, we will be launching two courses to support students as they prepare to apply to health professional programs, Application Booster and Becoming a Student Doctor. In addition, we are preparing to pilot a new program, Undergraduate Medical Accelerator Program (UMAP), with higher education partners in Oklahoma in April 2022 that will focus on preparing pre-health students enrolled in community college for future medical school admission. We are also collaborating on a recent HRSA grant submission as a consulting organization with a higher education institution in Texas, which, if awarded, would begin in September 2022.