Increasing minorities in veterinary medicine: national trends in science degrees, local programs, and strategies.

An "outsider" analysis of veterinary medicine in the context of national participation trends in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics suggests research to explain why students gravitate-or not-to the discipline and how the future of the profession may turn on the composition of the veterinary medicine faculty. Interventions to effect change in a range of classroom and institutional practices will determine the competitive advantage of the discipline relative to other health professions.