LAUSR

Racial/ethnic disparities in the receipt of awards among physicians have beenwidely reported in academicmedicine. 1–4 Now we have evidence showing similar disparities for medical students as well, as a recent study found Black and Asian medical students are less likely than White students to be elected to the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) honor society. AOA membership aims to signal exceptional academic performance. However, it may be based on a meritocracy myth in some circumstances, as getting into and succeeding in medical school can be more challenging for students of color, due to social barriers and biases. Consequently, AOA, may be perpetuating—or worse, compounding—demographic privilege. Although each AOA chapter has specific criteria for the selection of members, individual AOA chapters must adhere to at least two guidelines designated by the national AOA society: (1) only students ranking in the highest quartile by academic performance are eligible for honor society membership and (2) each chapter can select only up to 16% of medical students as AOA members. An AOA committee, at the level of the individual medical school, determines which medical students will ultimately be inducted. Membership helps students access the most competitive residency programs and promotes career advancement. Yet, the organization’s benefits accrue disproportionately to White students. Because of the importance placed on AOAmembership, racial/ethnic membership imbalances could represent a form of structural racism and have profound implications for students, patients, medical research, and the diversity of the healthcare workforce. To help address this problem, we propose a series of reforms.