State officials are addressing a lack of diversity when it comes to physicians.

According to the Association of American Medical College's 2022 report, nearly 64% of practicing physicians were white, about 20% were Asian and 7% were Hispanic. 

New York state is putting more than $430,000 toward bringing those numbers closer together. 

“This program gave me the support that I needed," Angelique Dabel, a medical student at Upstate Medical University. "It gave me the tools that I needed. It gave me opportunities I didn’t think that I’d be able to attain.”

Being a medical professional has been Dabel’s dream since she was 17. 

“My grandmother who basically helped raise me where she had a stroke, and it did leave her in a vegetative state for about three years," she said. "The doctors, they were very attentive. They dumbed things down for me because I was only 17 years old. And it was at that point I said, I really want to be somebody to do that, to help a family get through a situation like this.” 

But there was a hurdle. 

“I didn’t think that this was a job that a lot of Black people had the opportunity to go into that kind of career," Dabel said. "The only doctors we really interacted with were people that didn’t look like me.” 

Diversity in health care is an issue state and local leaders have been trying to address. This brought state Health Commissioner James McDonald to Upstate Medical University on Friday to announce the $432,000 in additional funding to three diversity in medicine programs at Upstate. 

“Not everybody has the same starting point in life," said McDonald. "Not everybody has the same advantages. Yet everyone deserves a fair and just opportunity for the best health outcomes."

The total state investment in diversity programs this year is $4.9 million. Those programs are managed by the Associated Medical Schools of New York. 

“The path that we at AMSNY that medical schools here in New York had been on for decades, which is to change the makeup, change the face of medicine," said Jonathan Teyan, the president and CEO of AMSNY. 

According to the National Institutes of Health, a physician with similar looks or background could make a patient feel more comfortable. Thanks to these programs, Angelique and other students are on their way to being that person for patients. 

“It doesn't stop with me," Dabel said. "Year after year after year, there's going to be people like me that would have this opportunity. And we can increase the representation in hospitals and give our patients the best possible care and make these connections.”