Post-baccalaureate premedical programs created to increase the enrollment of minority and disadvantaged students in medical schools appear to be effective, according to a study in the Sept. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association . After examining several of these programs, the authors determined that program participants were six times more likely to enroll in medical school than other college graduates who applied to these post-baccalaureate programs but did not participate. In an accompanying editorial, Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., AAMC president emeritus, and Ann Steinecke, Ph.D., AAMC senior staff associate, called the research findings "empirical support for the long-held belief that a sturdy scaffold of academic preparation and mentoring can offset at least some of the accumulated disadvantages experienced by many minority students interested in a career in medicine." Drs. Cohen and Steinecke encourage more schools to establish post-baccalaureate programs that have special appeal to minority students. For more information, please visit http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/296/9/1079 .