A New Medical School Just Started Up – And It’s Already Knee-Deep in DEI

Roseman University College of Medicine, a Nevada medical school which just opened its doors this year, has wasted no time embracing the DEI ideology that pervades medical education.

As a prime example, take the school’s “ASPIRE” program, a program for students as young as elementary school, that has the “one major goal” to “increase the diversity of the physician workforce by exposing and providing learning opportunities for students traditionally underrepresented in medicine and to educate diverse students to provide comprehensive care to the Southern Nevada community.” 

Details on this initiative are light, as it is still in its infancy, but the “underrepresented” language it employs is commonly used to refer to minority racial groups. 

As the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) maintained on its website (at least until recently), individuals are deemed to be “underrepresented in medicine” if they belong to “those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.”

“ASPIRE will engage the families of potential students to ensure the success of the student throughout the journey via quarterly reviews of student material and guidance on how parents and guardians can provide support to their student,” the description of the program continues.

Beyond the ASPIRE program, there’s other evidence of DEI in the school’s initiatives and personnel.

Take this line from the biography of Dr. Cheryl Brewster, the current Senior Executive Dean for Access, Opportunity, and Collaboration at Roseman University of Health Sciences and one of the leaders behind the founding of the College of Medicine:

“Additionally, Dr. Brewster’s work includes providing pathways and programs to specifically increase the number of BIPOC students in medical school.”

Dr. Brewster further affirmed this commitment in a statement contained within the medical school’s strategic plan: “Equity, inclusion and diversity are critical to all our endeavors at Roseman COM.”

In fact, “diversity” is one of the six goals identified in the medical school’s strategic plan.

The plan states that the school will “ensure a diverse, inclusive and equitable environment in which students, faculty and staff realize a sense of belonging.”

To achieve this, the plan recommends several strategies including an effort to “[e]stablish an organizational structure and culture committed to diversity, equity and inclusion across all aspects of teaching, research, service, and practice.”

Roseman University College of Medicine’s early and enthusiastic embrace of DEI is an ill omen for its commitment to championing excellence and merit in medicine.

But there is still time to reverse course and focus on educating the best possible physicians – not the best possible DEI evangelists. 

Medical schools should ensure that students learn to become exceptional physicians by cultivating strong diagnostic acumen, learning clinical skills, and fostering the ability to apply scientific insights to patient care. Learning to provide good quality care that promotes patient safety and wellbeing is a must. The curriculum must teach evidence-based medicine and principles of scientific inquiry, not ideology, and focus on cultivating excellence rather than dogma.