To the editor: Michael Hiltzik’s recent column clearly diagnoses the issue (“Justice Department attack on UCLA and other med schools shows it has no idea what makes a good doctor,” May 20). Cultural competency and community connection are at the heart of what makes great doctors and builds trust with patients. Ask the millions of Californians searching for physicians who can speak their language, understand their issues and provide effective healthcare.
The pipeline was built around a narrow image of who doctors are and where they come from. Academic guidance, financial aid and admissions systems don’t fully include Black and Latino students. Exclusionary policies will deepen the massive physician shortage hurting our communities.
Every qualified student denied a chance to study medicine is a loss. The health of our communities depends on our ability to remove those barriers, so California young people can follow their dreams and train and become the doctors we so desperately need.
Seciah Aquino, Gardena
This writer is executive director of Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, an advocacy group for Latine health equity.
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To the editor: I write in appreciation of Hiltzik’s column about the cluelessness exhibited by the Trump administration in going after the admission practices of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The Trump officials seem to think that test scores are the only metric that matters in admissions decision-making. Hiltzik is rightly critical of that approach.
Having had a career as a college history professor and having sat on various admission committees, I want to state that I’ve read more than one application where the test score might have been high, but the essay was vacuous.
This observation is in addition to any questions of basic justice in policing admissions to prestigious programs.
Glenna Matthews, Laguna Beach
