Posted on May 24, 2023

Med Schools Group Embraces Racial Preferences

Sean Salai, Washington Times, May 23, 2023

Racial preferences in faculty hiring and student admissions are a “strategic priority for academic medicine,” the nation’s largest consortium of medical schools says.

The racial priority appears in an open letter to 157 medical schools, academic societies, teaching hospitals and health systems written by David J. Skorton, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and David A. Acosta, the group’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.

“Throughout the country, we continue to be challenged with misinformation, disinformation, and misguided anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) actions that are confronting higher education and our academic medical institutions and that will harm the health of our communities,” the two physicians said in the letter, published online Monday. “We want to underscore that the AAMC is here to support your efforts to lead in the name of diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice.”

Dr. Skorton and Dr. Acosta praised medical schools that “for decades” have “ensured the recruitment of diverse classes of talented learners — including medical, graduate, and Ph.D. students, post-doctoral researchers, and residents.”

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It affirms a broader movement to “embed” racial justice in the medical profession that has grown since the 2020 murder of George Floyd in police custody and subsequent anti-racism protests.

For example, the American Medical Association has posted on its website a “strategic plan to embed racial justice” in the medical profession within the next two years.

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