URiM Representation Among Cancer-Care Trainees Rose After 2020

This repeated cross-sectional study analyzed Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education race and ethnicity data for trainees in medical, radiation, and surgical oncology, general surgery, and primary care from 2011 to 2025. The cohort included 658,891 trainee observations; 113,937 (17.3%) were URiM, defined as American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic, Latino or of Spanish origin, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The investigators used segmented logistic regression to assess changes before and after 2020.

URiM representation was relatively stable from 2011 (16.1%) to 2020 (16.4%), then rose to 20.4% in 2025. After 2020, the overall odds of a trainee being URiM increased by 5% (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.03-1.08), with a 5% annual increase (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.05-1.06). Significant increases were reported in surgical oncology and general surgery; the largest post-2020 increase was in radiation oncology (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.11-1.30). Medical oncology had no statistically significant change.

The authors noted that URiM representation remained below the diversity of the US population in 2025. The observational workforce analysis describes trends but does not establish whether specific initiatives caused the changes.