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A few months ago, I was summarily fired as an editor-in-chief of the kidney section of the most widely used medical reference. UpToDate is used by tens of thousands of physicians every day, helping them make the best and most timely decisions for patient care. Even as I was fired, UpToDate’s leadership team praised my work. So why did they fire me? Over the previous four years, I had publicly questioned the rise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI, in health care, expressing particular concern about its ubiquity in medical schools. That included the institution where I taught and...

The University of Pennsylvania expanded a program that admitted minority and other underrepresented college applicants into its Perelman School of Medicine under special criteria, including waiving the Medical College Admission Test requirement. The program has “officially broadened” this year to include students from Howard University, Oakwood University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Morehouse College and Spelman College, according to a Perelman School of Medicine news release. The Penn Access Summer Scholars program selects a group of diverse college candidates to complete two eight-week summer mentorship sessions with medical professionals. Upon completion, students may be eligible for early admission into Penn’s Perelman...

Stanford University will remove admissions test requirements for the upcoming school year in response to COVID-19... Most notably, Stanford Medicine, one of the top medical schools in the country, will not require the MCAT. ... Stanford’s School of Medicine will not require students to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), the standardized test for medical degree candidates. Stanford Medicine said that applications can be submitted without the MCAT through September 30, 2020 “in fairness to all applicants.” ... Stanford's physics department will not have to submit scores for the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) or the GRE subject test in...

To be a successful doctor, it is no longer enough to make an accurate diagnosis and recommend an effective treatment. Today’s medical schools want their students to be well-versed in politics—and not just any politics, but issues embraced by the left. Left-leaning issues are weaving their way into the curriculum and woe to those who speak out, including faculty members. Climate change is the newest charge. A coalition of nearly 200 health professional schools supports an initiative, backed by the American Medical Association (AMA), to instruct students on how the changing planet is impacting health and altering the course of...

(Skip) Unfortunately, what Kirch in particular seems to want to create is a medical community that aligns as closely as possible with his particular political views—and to insist that future doctors accept those views as settled fact. This leaves students who don't share Kirch's (and the AAMC's) transform­ative vision with a difficult choice: Will they violate their own integrity in order to succeed? The AAMC is not alone among accrediting institutions seeking to steer professions leftward. The American Psychological Association, which accredits a variety of graduate-level psychology programs, has taken strong positions on topics such as pay equality and gun...

The essay section is out and sociology is in, and test-takers will need to be as familiar with psychology terms, such as “reciprocal determinism,” as they are with organic chemistry. ... [A] large new section—one quarter of the test—covers psychology, sociology and the biological foundations of behavior. Official review material includes concepts such as social inequality, class consciousness, racial and ethnic identity, “institutionalized racism and discrimination” and “power, privilege and prestige.” ... The committee considered making the test pass/fail. “There was some sentiment that a person’s future shouldn’t rest on a mathematical score,” said Dr. Lucey. But it was ultimately...

... In addition to the hard-science and math questions that have for decades defined this rite of passage into the medical profession, nearly half of the new MCAT will focus on squishier topics in two new sections: one covering social and behavioral sciences and another on critical analysis and reading that will require students to analyze passages covering areas like ethics and cross-cultural studies. ... In addition to more emphasis on humanistic skills, the new test had to take into account important new values in medicine like diversity, with greater focus on health care for the underserved, Dr. McGaghie said....

The test that all medical school applicants take could place greater emphasis on behavioral and social sciences, adding a new component and lengthening the test to seven hours, if proposed changes are accepted. Members of the committee that proposed the changes to the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) say that this could help better identify applicants who have a greater understanding of behavioral and social factors that contribute to health problems. “We want to broaden the knowledge base that students have about those factors that influence health,” said committee chair Dr. Steven Gabbe, who is also CEO of the Ohio...

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Oakland -- An Alameda County judge ordered the administrator of the Medical College Admissions Test to overhaul its policies for accommodating people with learning disabilities. Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw issued the order to the Association of American Medical Colleges Tuesday after finding that its policies for disabled test takers violate state civil rights laws. Sabraw gave the AAMC 60 days to revamp its policies for reviewing requests from people with disabilities and to provide accommodations for the MCAT that could include providing extra time, different test settings or special devices or equipment. The initial lawsuit, later expanded to cover...