Two Investigations for Discrimination Are Underway at Baylor College of Medicine

There are more tricks than treats coming out of Baylor College of Medicine (BCOM) in Houston. 

Do No Harm Senior Fellow Mark Perry filed two civil rights complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) regarding multiple programs at Baylor College of Medicine that illegally discriminate on the basis of race and/or sex in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibit such discrimination. As a result of the complaints two federal civil rights investigations vs. BCOM have recently been opened by the Dallas OCR. 

The Department of Emergency Medicine’s Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) Visiting Student Scholarship offers four $1,500 scholarships to cover expenses for medical students who are accepted to the month-long internship. Additionally, because the program is restricted to “those whose background are underrepresented in medicine,” the 2021 Black Alumni and 2021 Latinx Alumni sponsored two $1,000 scholarships for the program. 

Four more programs from BCOM are being investigated by the Dallas Office for Civil Rights due to eligibility requirements being restricted to students from “an eligible underrepresented minority population.” Worse yet, these programs are funded by grants administered by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), which mandates that applicants must be from one of the following underrepresented minority populations: Blacks or African-Americans, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Eskimos, Aleuts, Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics or Latinos. These programs include:

• The Transformed Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Scholars Program, sponsored by the BCOM Center of Excellence in Health Equity, Training, and Research, is designed to support the training of “select students” who are enrolled in the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate of Completion in Biomedical Sciences and Health Equity program.
• Medical Student Scholars who complete specific health equity-related courses receive a stipend of up to $1,500 and an additionally $500 for travel to present their research at a national conference.
• Center of Excellence Clinical Fellows Scholars complete curricular activities that include health equity-related research and training.
• Center of Excellence junior faculty scholars who want to participate in the Faculty Scholars Program must complete an application that asks their race, but only includes the HRSA-defined groups.

Have you been excluded from a scholarship or fellowship at your medical or nursing school because of discriminatory inclusion criteria? Do No Harm wants to hear from you, and you may remain anonymous if you wish.