ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan School of Public Health has received a $10,000 grant from the Metro Health Foundation of Detroit for the School’s Summer Enrichment Program in Health Services Administration. The grant will help support five minority internships in community health programs this summer.

” Minority groups are seriously under-represented in the top echelons of health care management, as they are in all of the health professions,” said Richard Lichtenstein, associate professor of health services management and policy and director of the program. ” Greater ethnic and racial diversity is needed in the field, not only for reasons of equity, but also because diversity will enhance the competitiveness and effectiveness of the nation’s newly emerging health care systems and organizations. ”

The Summer Enrichment Program’s summer internships are designed to attract minority undergraduates into health administration by matching them with top level health care executives in a wide range of health programs.

Unlike most minority recruitment programs, the U-M program seeks out minority students before their final year as undergraduates so they will have time to take appropriate coursework and get the necessary academic counseling to prepare them for admission to a master’s degree program in health services administration.

During the summer internship, each student works with an administrator in a major health care organization in Southeast Michigan. Many of the area’s hospitals, HMOs and health systems participate.

” The student, who completes a project for the organization, works with and attends meetings with the executive,” Lichtenstein said. They also attend workshops on the U-M campus to learn the complexities of the U.S. health care system and explore minority health issues as well as develop skills like mastering spreadsheets.

Additionally, students take classes that prepare them for the Graduate Record Exams and applying to graduate schools.

The Metro Health Foundation is a private foundation that awards grants to Michigan organizations for health care and health-related fields.

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