The Challenge: Under-Representation in Healthcare
Racial and ethnic minorities remain significantly under-represented among healthcare providers, a disparity that often contributes to inequitable health outcomes.
Many talented students from underserved communities interested in medicine, nursing, or related health careers lack the resources, mentorship, or knowledge to pursue those paths. Recognizing this gap, Vituity Cares set out to create pipelines that support these aspiring professionals from a young age and operates several interlocking programs designed to nurture interest, build skills, and lower barriers for under-represented students in healthcare. Carondelet invites eligible incoming freshmen to apply for Vituity Cares Tuition Assistance and those selected join a cohort of students who are supported in myriad ways throughout their four-year journey.
Mentorship & Education Programs
- Through the Vituity Cares Mentorship Program, students from under-represented communities are paired 1:1 with experienced clinicians or healthcare professionals who serve as mentors. The support is both professional and personal.
- The program includes monthly group educational sessions—workshops, panel discussions, presentations—to introduce mentees to a wide array of healthcare roles and to help them build interpersonal, academic, and professional skills.
- With the aim of increasing long-term success and confidence, the foundation emphasizes not just career exposure but also self-esteem, networking, and career-readiness skills.
Academic Support & Scholarships
Vituity Cares doesn’t just offer inspiration—it backs ambition with real support. The foundation provides scholarships to low-income and BIPOC students, helping to reduce financial barriers that might otherwise prevent them from pursuing demanding education pathways. In addition to tuition support, mentorship, and internship opportunities, Vituity Cares has also helped their Carondelet students offset test prep and college admissions costs, and invested in their STEM-related extracurricular pursuits.
Why This Matters—For Students & Communities
- Building representation matters. When healthcare providers reflect the diversity of the communities they serve—in race, ethnicity, background—patients often receive care that is more culturally competent and empathetic. Programs like Vituity Cares help ensure that future healthcare professionals mirror the diversity of real communities.
- Reducing barriers to entry helps equalize opportunity. Many under-represented students face steep challenges: financial hardship, lack of mentorship, limited exposure to career paths, and fewer networks. By offering mentorship, education, and scholarships, Vituity Cares helps mitigate those barriers.
- Long-term impact on health equity. Diversifying the healthcare workforce isn’t just about fairness in employment—it has real consequences for access to care and patient outcomes. As more under-represented students enter healthcare roles, underserved communities stand to benefit from more providers who understand their lived realities.
Challenges & The Road Ahead
The path is not easy: training for healthcare professions remains long and demanding; systemic inequities in educational attainment and economic inequality persist. But by starting early—with high school students via collaborations like with Carondelet and De La Salle—Vituity Cares helps build a more sustainable pipeline.
As the foundation grows, its capacity to mentor, support, and guide more under-represented youths at our two schools and one community increases. Vituity Cares represents a meaningful commitment—not just to treating patients, but to transforming the structure of the healthcare workforce. By nurturing under-represented students interested in healthcare careers, offering mentorship, academic support, exposure to real-world medical professions, and financial assistance, the foundation helps open doors that have long been closed for many.
For communities often overlooked by traditional pathways, such efforts can reshape futures—producing a more representative, compassionate, and equitable healthcare system for all.
Carondelet Trustee, Dr. Theo Koury P’18, Vice President of Vituity Cares Foundation with Vituity Cares Scholars