Medical schools hoping to find doctors who'll practice in minority and underserved communities may want to start grooming students in community colleges, a new studyout of UCLA indicates.

The study says that minorities who attended community colleges before heading to medical school are more likely to commit to working for underserved populations, the study says. One description called the findings as, "... a rich source of physicians for poor communities."

The findings came from a 2012 Matriculating Student Questionnaire by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The researchers wanted to see which medical school applicants might be more readily swayed to practice in minority and underserved communities.

The study appears in the journal, Academic Medicine. It says: Of the 40,491 medical school applicants and 4,920 (28 percent) attended a community college either during high school, after high school, or following graduation from a four-year university in order take courses in preparation for medical school.

A higher proportion of minority med school applicants attended community colleges compared with whites:

Latinos were the largest group at 34 percent, (538 of 1,566).

African Americans, 28 percent (311 of 1,109).

Whites, 27 percent (2,715 of 9,905).

Asians, 27 percent (963 of 3,628).

Others, 30 percent (393 of 1,310).

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Community colleges may be key to finding doctors for minority, underserved communities