Minorities Affairs Committee

Statement of Identity and Purpose 

The SuperMAC (Minorities Affairs Committee) is a coalition of leaders of the major biomedical professional societies within the community of underrepresented minority scientists (African American, Mexican American, Native American/Alaskan Native, Pacific Islanders, and Puerto Ricans.).

The purpose of the coalition is to address collectively, the common concerns of different MACs and to present a unified public policy/agenda to the councils of individual professional and scientific society, and to the nation. Common concerns include the following: 

1)  The extent of under-representation of the previously mentioned groups in various biomedical sciences. 
2)  The lack of a critical mass of underrepresented groups in any one institution to effect change.
3)  The disparities in salaries between majority and minority scientists.
4)  The continued leaky pipeline.
5)  Inadequate funding for the development of underrepresented minority scientists.
6)  The limited inclusion of underrepresented minority scientists at every level of the governance of professional societies. 
7)  The limited opportunities for networking and collaboration.

All of these concerns contribute to the continued health disparities in this nation. To date, the SuperMAC has been instrumental in the development of the active and effective web-based minority scientists database network.JustGarciaHill and the inclusion of ”diversity” in the Mission Statements and/or objectives of several societies. The SuperMAC is committed to the fulfillment of the following goals:

1)  Learning of the programs, policies, and agendas of each society. 
2)  Identifying common factors that impair the career progress and restrict the numbers of underrepresented groups in the sciences.
3)  Assisting in the elimination of health disparities. 
4)  Implementing bold new initiatives requiring the collective effort of the MACs of various societies.

Meeting Participants: