Commentary
VCU Health’s DEI Problem
Share:
The Virginia Commonwealth University – and its affiliated medical institutions VCU Health and VCU School of Medicine – are no strangers to DEI. VCU Health advertises its DEI programs on its website, while the medical school touts its commitment to DEI.
Yet it’s clear DEI has pervaded these institutions even deeper.
In fact, according to documents obtained by Do No Harm, almost 400 VCU Medical Center job descriptions contain references to “diversity.”
This includes references to diversity in the position’s desired qualifications and duties.
For instance, the job description for the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Health System Transformation requires candidates to have a “demonstrated ability to leverage diversity in functional skills, experience levels and backgrounds for innovation.”
The Chief Medical Officer role states that candidates should have a “Diversity Equity and Inclusion certification.”
A human resources position states that candidates are responsible for recruiting “historically underrepresented” populations.
VCU’s institutional commitment to DEI is further evidenced in a grand rounds session that has since gone viral.
Fox News reported that during the grand rounds session, Dr. Haywood Brown, associate vice president of Academic Affairs at the University of South Florida (USF), made a number of incendiary comments about how medical school faculty and administrators could skirt Florida’s anti-DEI laws.
Following Fox News’ report, Brown resigned from his position at USF.
But attendees, including VCU professor David Chelmow, applauded Brown, with Chelmow calling his speech “wonderful.”
But that’s not all; Do No Harm also obtained documents from the VCU Massey Cancer Center revealing VCU’s DEI education programs.
The documents include lesson plans and descriptions of “Advanced Research Mentoring Programs” operated by the VCU School of Medicine as a form of education that “provide evidence-based practices and techniques for research faculty to grow and hone their mentoring.”
The lesson plan for the initial ARM session is essentially entirely focused on DEI.
Activity titles include “Reflecting on Diversity,” “Reflect on Unconscious Assumptions,” “Implications of Diversity Research,” and “Case Studies,” with the latter discussing examples of, you guessed it, “Equity and Inclusion.”
According to the program description of an ARM session, the sessions are designed to help faculty “recognize the potential impact of conscious and unconscious assumptions, preconceptions, biases, and prejudices on the mentor-mentee relationship and reflect on how to manage them.”
Do No Harm also obtained the slide deck for one of the ARM sessions that includes, among other references to DEI, the infamous cartoon depicting “equity,” featured below.
“Equity is about giving everyone what they individually need to be able to participate/see what is happening/do research (ex. Having a lab bench at the height someone would need if they used a wheelchair),” the slide deck notes state.
Additionally, the slides note that the session involves an eight minute-long exploration of DEI research; another ARM document includes a list of studies ostensibly demonstrating examples of prejudice against racial minorities.
Do No Harm has previously documented VCU’s commitment to DEI and racially discriminatory ideology.
For instance, 2024 admissions guidelines obtained by Do No Harm from the VCU School of Medicine revealed that the school continues to reward “diversity” in the admissions process.
Additionally, VCU School of Medicine hosted a lecture featuring several flat-out misleading claims such as: “Underrepresented Minority Physicians Are More Likely to Serve the Underserved,” “Minority Patients Are More Likely to Follow the Recommendations of Minority Physicians,” “Diversity on Research Teams Enhances Impact of Research,” and “A Diverse Physician Workforce Will Reduce Racial Healthcare Disparities.”
