Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program
Formerly the Minority Medical Faculty Development Program
The Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) seeks to increase the number of faculty from historically disadvantaged backgrounds who can achieve senior rank in academic medicine and who will encourage and foster the development of succeeding classes of such physicians.
The program defines the term "historically disadvantaged" to mean challenges facing individuals because of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or other similar factors.
Four-year postdoctoral research awards are offered to historically disadvantaged physicians who are (1) committed to excelling in biomedical research, clinical investigation or health services research; (2) developing careers in academic medicine; (3) improving the health of underserved populations; and (4) furthering the understanding and elimination of health disparities.
Key Results: The program selected its first cohort of eight disadvantaged physicians committed to careers in biomedical research in 1983. Since then, the scope of the program has grown to include those in clinical investigation and health services research, and the number of awards has increased to up to 12 per year.
- By February 2008, 181 scholars had completed all four years of the program.
- Of these, more than 80 percent are still in academic medicine, including 35 professors, 53 associate professors and 62 assistant professors.
- Many have gone on to win awards and serve in a variety of leadership capacities.
- Five former scholars served on the program's national advisory committee as of 2008.