Fifty years at Western

I appreciated the lists of University of Western Ontario medical school students from 1954 and 2004 that you published in your 2000 holiday issue.¹ The changes that have taken place over the 50 years are obvious: we now have a larger number of students, more female students and a greater ethnic mix within the student body. These differences reflect not only the increasingly multicultural nature of Canadian society but also the changing attitudes toward who should be admitted to medical school.

Women now account for 50% of Canada's medical students, compared with 5% from our class of 1954. It is worth noting that women were not accepted in any Canadian medical school just over 100 years ago.

Similarly, our schools now welcome candidates who reflect the ethnic spectrum of the population, and this range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds enriches everybody and helps ensure that our graduates will understand and respond appropriately to diversity within their patient population.

However, increased recognition of the value of inclusiveness in Canadian medical schools in no way detracts from the class of 1954, whose members have provided committed service and leadership to their profession for so many years.

Signature

Carol P. Herbert
Dean Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry University of Western Ontario London, Ont.