Press Release

Do No Harm Files Civil Rights Complaints Against Duke University Health System and Geisinger College of Health Sciences

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • March 19, 2025
  • Duke University, Geisinger College of Health Sciences

RICHMOND, VA; March 19, 2025 – Today, Do No Harm submitted two complaints to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against Duke University Health System (DUHS) and Geisinger College of Health Sciences (GCOHS).

The complaints identify several instances in which DUHS and GCOHS engaged in unlawful race-based discrimination in their programs and policies.                

For instance, DUHS’s diversity plan explicitly calls for adapting admissions processes to increase acceptance of underrepresented minority applicants, even pairing prospective minority candidates with current minority students to “create community and a sense of belonging” during the admissions process through a “holistic review.” Internal DUHS documents tout deliberate admissions decisions to boost enrollment of certain racial groups.

GCOHS, by its own admission, prioritizes “the recruitment and inclusion of … traditionally underrepresented minorities in medicine and biomedical sciences, specifically African American/Blacks, Latinos/Hispanics and Native Americans as members of [its] faculty, staff, and student body.” GCOHS also used a $3.4 million federal grant to establish a “Center of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion.” The Center’s primary goal has been described as building “a leakless pipeline to expand the pool of underrepresented-in-medicine (URM) candidates” for medical school admission and faculty positions.

“Medical schools like Duke and Geisinger continue to flout the idea of colorblind recruitment, merit-based admissions, and equal opportunity enrichment programs, despite a clear directive from the highest court in the land. Their actions are just another example of how DEI ideology has infiltrated every facet of American medicine,” said Dr. Kurt Miceli, Medical Director of Do No Harm. “Schools and health systems cannot be allowed to continue these obviously discriminatory practices, especially when they have the vital job of producing our future doctors. Relying on intrinsic characteristics – and not merit – undermines the very principle of equal opportunity and ultimately puts patients at risk. It is both illegal and immoral. Duke and Geisinger must be held accountable.”

Read the complaint against Duke University Health System (DUHS) here and the complaint against Geisinger College of Health Sciences (GCOHS) here.

Do No Harm, established in April 2022, has rapidly gained recognition and made significant strides in its mission to safeguard healthcare from ideological threats. With 16,000 members, including doctors, nurses, physicians, and concerned citizens across all 50 states and 14 countries, DNH has achieved over 10,000 media hits in top-tier publications and garnered widespread attention through numerous broadcast news appearances.