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Dermatology program used to prioritize ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the resident curriculum and clinical opportunities’

The University of Pennsylvania’s dermatology program website no longer mentions its commitment to “incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion” into medical students’ studies, according to the institution’s student newspaper.

Similarly, the Ivy League school recently removed mention of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism Committee on its Pathology and Laboratory Medicine website.

These and other recent changes, documented in a report Thursday at The Daily Pennsylvanian, are part of a purge of DEI programs and goals that the Trump administration has warned may violate civil rights laws.

The student newspaper reported “the DEI sites of one Penn Medicine department and six Perelman School of Medicine programs have been scrubbed” this spring.

These include a “diversity and inclusion” statement in the medical school’s dermatology program, according to the report:

Penn Med Dermatology’s page regarding the department’s practices around underrepresented groups in medicine, as well as the residency program’s diversity and inclusion statement, was taken down. The stripped webpage used to include the group’s commitment to “incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the resident curriculum and clinical opportunities,” according to a previous version of the site archived by The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Perelman’s Medical Scientist Training Program’s diversity and inclusion statement was also taken down.

“A primary mission of Penn MSTP is to have a diverse program in which students of all backgrounds and identities are supported and able to flourish,” the previous site stated. “We actively seek to enroll and affirm students from groups that are underrepresented in the MD-PhD workforce … with the goal of promoting equal opportunity for all of our students in the physician-scholar career path.”

The Perelman Pathology and Laboratory Medicine also listed an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism Committee on its website. That is now gone as is a Representation and Anti-Discrimination Committee on its Orthopaedic Research Laboratory website, according to the report.

How many of these committees and goals have been entirely removed from the university as a whole is not clear.

The medical school’s Department of Cell and Developmental Biology website used to have a page dedicated to “diversity and inclusion”; now the page says “Community and Wellness” and includes “solidarity and mission statements,” the report states. It still lists committee members, too, although it does not name the committee.

The department “recognizes that systemic discrimination has created disproportionate and often unspoken barriers to access and resources that have historically impacted individuals in myriad ways because of their identity or background,” the revised webpage states.

The student newspaper linked the changes to the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI, as well as an announcement about a new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative last week under the U.S. Department of Justice.

The initiative will investigate alleged civil rights violations and give whistleblowers a portion of the fines if the entity is found guilty of such violations, The College Fix previously reported.

“[A] university that accepts federal funds could violate the False Claims Act when it encourages antisemitism, refuses to protect Jewish students, allows men to intrude into women’s bathrooms, or requires women to compete against men in athletic competitions. Colleges and universities cannot accept federal funds while discriminating against their students,” a department memo about the initiative states.

MORE: Trump DOJ weaponizes False Claims Act lawsuits to target DEI in higher ed

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Medical students pose for a photo at the University of Pennsylvania; Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania/Facebook

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