The Association for Academic Surgery Needs to Take a Scalpel to Its Discriminatory Programs

Do No Harm has extensively cataloged examples of racial discrimination in medical education over the past few years. Oftentimes, the prime culprits are professional medical associations that become captured by the DEI ideology and engage in racial discrimination in service of this agenda.

Take the Association for Academic Surgery; the AAS has for years maintained several programs that discriminate against applicants according to their race or other immutable characteristics.

For instance: the AAS Fall Courses Award, funded by the AAS Foundation.

“The AAS Fall Courses provide pearls of wisdom and a discussion of the advances in research methods, academic career advancement, grant writing, as well as incorporate interactive sessions where participants can discuss their ideas with academic surgical leaders and network with colleagues,” the award description reads.

That sounds like a pretty valuable opportunity. But AAS believes it should only be available to members of certain racial groups, gender identities, and sexual orientations.

The award is limited to individuals “who by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any other personal identification is an underrepresented voice in surgery.” This includes women, LGBTQ individuals, and certain racial minorities such as blacks and Native Americans.

Would a straight white or Japanese man qualify for the award? Judging from the criteria, it would appear he would not.

While discrimination is unacceptable in any circumstance, AAS’s behavior is especially troubling because the organization’s self-described mission is to “inspire and develop young academic surgeons.” The AAS is charged with stewardship over the field of academic surgery, and its actions set an example.

In another case, the AAS offered its Student Diversity Travel Award to “three female or underrepresented minority medical students.”

The award provides medical students with a $500 stipend, as well as networking opportunities and complimentary registration at the Academic Surgical Congress in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Again, a pretty good deal – if you’re of the right sex and race.

A previous version of the award listing simply stated the program was open to underrepresented minorities. 

Needless to say, these opportunities should not be limited to individuals based on their race.

The AAS should remove its discriminatory criteria and open these opportunities up to all individuals, regardless of which group they belong to.