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Key Takeaways
- The UCSF OB-GYN program's mission statement prioritizes 'anti-racism and anti-oppression,' focusing on health equity, particularly for marginalized groups, which has sparked debate about its implications for medical education.
- Critics, including advocacy group Do No Harm, argue that the program prioritizes political ideology over medical education, suggesting it could undermine clinical care and patient outcomes.
- Concerns have been raised about the influence of demographic categories on clinical decision-making and the overall quality of care, with calls for a return to evidence-based practices in medicine.
The University of California, San Francisco Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences program’s mission statement focuses on “anti-racism and anti-oppression,” sparking concern over the institution’s priorities.
Medical advocacy group Do No Harm criticized the program in a recent news release, stating that it has adopted a radical framework centered on political ideology rather than education.
The program’s mission statement in its Residency Applicant Handbook reads, “Centering health equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression in clinical care and in education, particularly for Black and Indigenous individuals, people of color, trans and nonbinary individuals, and immigrant populations.”
It also states that residents will apply “scientific evidence within a person-centered framework to deliver dignified and just sexual and reproductive health care.”
Further, Do No Harm also highlighted the residency program’s “Anti-Racism Commitment.”
“We pledge that our actions will purposefully and intentionally advance anti-racist efforts,” the commitment reads. “We pledge to continue educating ourselves both individually and collectively on anti-racism and the tangible ways we can effectively contribute to the dismantling of systemic racism and anti-Blackness.”
Reached for comment, Do No Harm Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kurt Miceli told The College Fix that the “political activism” in this program “raises questions about whether it should be the top NIH-funded OB-GYN institution.”
The university’s residency program is one of many that emphasize DEI, sometimes at the expense of patient care. However, with ACGME requirements now removed, this activist focus no longer has a formal mandate, Miceli said.
“Allowing racial frameworks to influence medical education and clinical decision-making is far afield from a medical professional’s duty to do no harm,” he said.
Miceli also raised concerns that the spread of this ideology puts patients at risk.
“What’s worse, UCSF gambles with the lives of vulnerable mothers and children by reducing them to demographic categories instead of treating them as individuals with distinct needs,” he said.
“UCSF should base its training on rigorous evidence and clinical excellence, not flawed studies that prop up its ideological agenda. We must continue to stand up for merit in medicine; patients’ health depends on it,” Miceli told The Fix.
In its news release, Do No Harm stated that UCSF’s shift away from a focus on providing the best medical care supports an alarming trend in the decline of quality reproductive health care that is essential for women and babies.
A spokesperson for the National Association of Scholars shared similar concerns with The Fix regarding the politicization of medical education.
Reached for comment on the school’s mission statement, Director of Communications Chance Layton said, “This is a broad trend in medical education.”
“This is partly supported by the accreditors, which force these programs on schools, students, and faculty,” he said.
University of California, San Francisco’s media relations and Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences department both did not respond to requests for comment from The College Fix.
UCSF is not the only school that has shifted its focus toward racial issues.
For example, Stanford University is facing a federal civil rights complaint over a teacher training program that allegedly excludes applicants based on race, in violation of the Supreme Court’s ban on race-based discrimination in education, The College Fix previously reported.
Further, the U.S. Department of Justice just launched a probe into three medical schools to determine whether they are discriminating against applicants based on their race. The investigation involves Stanford University, Ohio State University, and the University of California, San Diego.
