Do No Harm v. University of Colorado

As students enter their final year of medical school, they can explore specialties within the practice of medicine by participating in short-term elective classes at other medical schools. Unfortunately, students often incur heavy costs to attend these courses. These expenses are in addition to their existing medical school tuition.

That’s why many schools offer scholarships for interested students to attend visiting elective courses. The University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology offers a visiting elective scholarship to fourth-year medical students that provides up to $2,000 to reimburse the costs of taking their elective course. There’s just one problem: this scholarship is only available to students who are “underrepresented in medicine,” specifically African American/Black, Native American, Hispanic/Latino, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+ students. In other words, white and Asian students are not eligible to apply for the scholarship on an equal footing.

That’s why Do No Harm is fighting back. We’re filing a lawsuit against the University of Colorado challenging this discriminatory scholarship on behalf of a member who would otherwise be eligible to compete for the scholarship on an equal footing if not for the color of his skin. Our member wants to practice medicine in rural communities in desperate need of more doctors. Participating in this elective scholarship would expand and develop his knowledge of radiation oncology so he can better serve his future patients. By excluding our member from this program because of his race, the University of Colorado is violating his constitutional rights.

We must keep identity politics out of the medical profession. Medical scholarships should be awarded based on merit, not skin color.