WHO WE ARE

BACKGROUND

The National First Generation and Low-Income in Medicine Association (FGLIMed) started in a 2018 conversation between two medical students from Yale School of Medicine and Georgetown School of Medicine. Since then, the founding institutions of FGLIMed has expanded to include Albany Medical College, Columbia University, UCLA, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Mercer University School of Medicine, and Mt. Sinai. 

Medical students who are the first in their family to graduate from college, and/or were raised in a low-income household, represent an emerging group of physicians whose backgrounds inform unique perspectives on complex issues facing medicine on the national stage, including health disparities, healthcare systems, and patient-centered care.

While the number of people living in poverty in the United States has increased over the past several decades, the percentage of medical students from the lowest socioeconomic quintile has not exceeded six percent since 1987. During this time, the percentage of low-income matriculants has remained stagnant, and the most recent AAMC Matriculating Student Questionnaire shows that first-generation college graduates represent less than 20% of all medical students.

In order to produce medical professionals who reflect the populations we serve, medical institutions must inclusively recruit, retain, and support physicians-in-training across socioeconomic strata.

OUR GOALS

❏ Promote visibility, well-being, and community among medical students who are first-generation college graduates and/or from low-income backgrounds

❏ Develop, strengthen, and empower a national network of students, faculty, and medical schools committed to the success of FGLI medical trainees and physicians

❏ Share and promote strategies to amplify recruitment, retention, and support of FGLI trainees in medicine

❏ Articulate the strengths and challenges unique to FGLI trainees, and propose sustainable, creative solutions to maximize FGLI potential