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In May, the UNC School of Medicine revised its Guidelines for Appointment, Reappointment, and Promotion. Now, faculty seeking promotion must tout their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. One sample DEI statement, posted on the School of Medicine website, shows what that requirement might entail, concluding with a nod to the concept of intersectionality. "As I move forward in my career, I intend to continue to include issues of equity and inclusion in my bedside teaching. I commit to annually attending a seminar offered by the University Office of Diversity and Inclusion to learn more about the intersectionality of race,...

A group of congressmen are looking into the University of Virginia (UVA).In April, I covered the story of Kieran Bhattacharya, a medical student who allegedly got a little too curious.In October 2018, Kieran attended a UVA panel discussion covering microaggressions.During a Q&A segment, he asked as follows:“Thank you for your presentation. I had a few questions, just to clarify your definition of microaggressions. Is it a requirement, to be a victim of microaggression, that you are a member of a marginalized group?”Presenter and Assistant Dean Beverly Cowell replied that it wasn’t a necessity.Yet — as Kieran observed — a slide...

Last week I wrote about The 60% Solution: Rethinking Healthcare, a new book by Todd Furniss. I follow him on Twitter @TFurniss. The author runs a private equity medical field investment firm. His late parents were passengers on an airliner that crashed in a storm, resulting in life-long medical care for his mother. Suffice it to say Furniss has seen the inside of more hospitals than you or I – and I used to work in one. I concluded my discussion writing, “These five reforms are not controversial among those who believe in patient-centered health care. Unfortunately, too many in...

When COVID-19 restrictions reduced his work schedule at the National Institutes of Health, Sam Smith decided to turn to another time-consuming job: applying to medical school. He'd always wanted to go into medicine, but what was happening in the world had a big impact on the kind of medicine he hopes to practice. Now Smith wants to specialize in infectious diseases. The experience of the last year "makes me think, there's probably going to be another pandemic" in the future, said Smith, 25. "So I want to be on the front lines of the next one."

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...

... According to the script, I was a non-binary LGBT activist demanding that the clinic washrooms be gender neutral. As my instructions read, the “enlightened applicant” would find a solution to my complaint—whether by removing the Men/Women designations or putting tape over the signs. They would also apologize, and work with me to make the office more “inclusive.” Other scripted demands were LGBT Ally signs in the office, posters depicting “people of a gender-fluid appearance,” and staff sensitivity training on LGBT issues. Internally, I recoiled at my task. As a Canadian who hasn’t even yet managed to find a GP...

Women have outperformed their male counterparts in entrance examinations for a medical school in Japan that last year admitted rigging admission procedures to give men an unfair advantage. Juntendo University in Tokyo said that of the 1,679 women who took its medical school entrance exam earlier this year, 139, or 8.28%, had passed. The pass rate among 2,202 male candidates was 7.72%. It was the first time in seven years that the pass rate among women was higher than among men, the Asahi Shimbun reported. The university attributed the exam results to its decision to “abolish the unfair treatment of...

How far has the United States gone down the road of punishing people for uttering politically incorrect thoughts? Very far indeed, as an incident at the University of Louisville shows. Yes, we know that faculty in the “soft” fields of the social sciences endanger their careers if they happen to say something that upsets someone of “progressive” sensibilities, but the Louisville case involves a (formerly) esteemed medical school professor. Evidently, no one is safe from the PC enforcers. Dr. Allan Josephson has been in medical practice since 1976, specializing in childhood psychology. In 2003, has was chosen to be the...

A prominent Texas medical school will stop considering race or ethnicity in deciding whether to admit applicants, as part of an agreement with the Education Department’s civil rights office. The president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center signed the agreement in February, 14 years after the department began investigating a complaint filed by an anti-affirmative action group. The agreement is the first of its kind for the Education Department under Secretary Betsy DeVos, and comes as the Trump administration continues its hard turn against the use of race in admissions. Roger Clegg, general counsel for the Center for...

The lobby for hundreds of medical schools and teaching hospitals Wednesday said it was “deeply concerned” that the Trump administration was rescinding guidance on consideration of race in university admissions. The 4th of July announcement by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) comes after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded 24 Obama-era guidance documents on affirmative action the Trump justice department said were “unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law or otherwise improper.” A joint letter from the Justice Department and the Department of Education said the Obama administration advocated policy and "positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution,” the...

The U.S. spends about 18% of its gross domestic product on health care, far more than most countries. One contributing factor that often goes overlooked: the high cost, in time and money, of becoming a physician. In a recent paper for the Mercatus Center, Jeffrey Flier and Jared Rhoads argue that the amount of time it takes to become a doctor—almost always at least a decade—constrains the supply, driving up prices. Physician incomes in the U.S. well exceed those in Europe; American generalists earn twice as much as Dutch ones. Much of this education, especially courses required for a bachelor’s...

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...

A widely supported bill to let Washington State University open a medical school in Spokane hit a snag when a Seattle lawmaker asked the school to promise that it would not limit teaching on reproductive health or end-of-life care because of its partnerships with religious hospitals. House Bill 1559 was scheduled to be voted out of the House Higher Education Committee on Friday, but the vote was delayed after Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, pushed that amendment, the Seattle Times reported. WSU supporters say they have no intention of restricting medical education. But they say Pollet's amendment has no place in...

Freshmen students at the University of Rochester may have had a terrifying start to their college career, courtesy of a prankster posing as their professor. The video has quickly gone viral, approaching seven million views in just four days. The prankster -- a member of the "Chamber Boys" radio program at the university -- showed up a few minutes early with a briefcase. He erases the chalkboard, writes the name of the real professor and addresses the class. "I'm Dr. Hafensteiner and I'll be your professor for Chemistry 131," he tells the class. The fake professor -- whose real name...

The university's Stritch School of Medicine not only intends to waive legal residency as an admissions requirement for applicants but aims to offer a financing plan through a state agency

In a previous blog entry I discussed reasons not to go to law school, namely, the high debt and low employment ratio. It seems that medical students are facing a similar situation, as reported by the Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff. “But there’s also a downside to heading to medical school these days: Students’ odds of getting in a residency program are rapidly shrinking — and medical students have begun to live in fear of this very scary chart,” writes Kliff. The chart contrasts medical residency applications rising steeply, with a gradually increasing line of open 1st year residency positions. As...

... 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 chart above (click to enlarge) is an update of the chart from this CD post from about a year ago, showing medical school acceptance rates for Asians, whites, Hispanics and blacks based on data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for the years 2009-2011 (aggregated). For 2011, the average GPA of students applying to medical schools was 3.53 and the average total MCAT score was 28, and the chart displays the acceptance rates for students applying to medical schools with average GPAs (3.40-3.59) and average MCAT scores (27-29) in the highlighted blue column, and the acceptance rates...

Imagine yourself, a senior in college, sitting in the middle of your dream medical-school interview. Because you have done your homework, the interview is going exceedingly well. You seem to have established a rapport with the interviewer, and your answers are crisp, clear and intelligent. It’s going so well that you are starting to feel confident regarding your chances of gaining admission. That is, until the interviewer hits you with this question: “Suppose a young pregnant woman and her boyfriend come to you seeking an abortion. What would you do?” What would you do? How would you answer? For pro-life...

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...