Lorena Millo, a HHIVE alumna and current UNC medical student, recently published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. “The Cost of Applying to Medical School–A Barrier to Diversifying the Profession” appeared in the October 17, 2019 issue and describes some of the economic barriers to medical training created by the application process before offering some recommendations to lesson the financial burden of medical applications, especially for low-income applicants.
“High application costs send a message that medical education isn’t designed to be obtainable for low-income people, which could potentially deter some people from applying at all. […] Cost-related barriers may partly explain why people applying to medical school are disproportionately white and of higher socioeconomic status” (1506).
As an undergraduate, Lorena was a dual English and Business Administration major and her Honors Thesis was awarded the James L. Whitfield Jr. Memorial Prize by the Department of English. After graduating in 2017, she went on to complete a post-baccalaureate premed program at Goucher College. Lorena wrote the NEMJ piece with Noelani Ho and Peter A. Ubel while working at the Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University. She is now a first-year medical student at UNC.
Congratulations, Lorena!