The Dare to be a Doctor Mentoring Program seeks to pair health care professionals interested in becoming mentors, with minority students interested in pursuing careers in medicine and health care in general.

This mentoring program is an expansion of a similar program that was developed based on the findings of the 2005 Blue Ribbon Task Force on Health Care Disparities. County Executive Andy Spano created the task force to explore health care disparities in Westchester. A key recommendation from these findings was to increase the number of minority physicians and health professionals in the county. A logical response was to create mentoring program targeted to minority students. You can read more about the findings in Health Disparities among Blacks in Westchester: A Snapshot Report .

A second RX Success: Dare to be a Doctor conference is being held on Oct. 17, 2009 after the first one last year received an overwhelming response from minority students. It drew 550 students and over 200 parents to the County Center. Over 45 online participants viewed the event live via Webcast. Of these online participants one was a community center and another a local school. You can view the entire conference on Westchester TV starting with the Dare to be a Doctor Introduction.

Registration for Dare to be a Doctor will close Tuesday, Oct. 13.

If you're an African American or Hispanic medical professional interested in dedicating some of your time to a motivated and interested student, we encourage you to sign up to become a mentor.

Students are encouraged to submit their e-mail address to receive future information about the Dare to be a Doctor Mentoring Program. Students will also be notified of future forums with health care professionals or on selected topics relating to the medical field.