18% of med schools receive F when judged by academic excellence, DEI rejection

By Tate Miller
The Center Square

Of 154 medical schools analyzed, 28 received a grade of “F” from a new ranking system launched by medical group Do No Harm that ranks according to “academic excellence, transparency, and rejection of DEI.”

Do No Harm Director of Research and director of the group’s new Center for Accountability in Medicine Ian Kingsbury told The Center Square that “F-rated schools are the embodiment of what has gone wrong in medical education.”

“These schools have a deep commitment to DEI, and it shows in the scores of the students they enroll,” Kingsbury said.

“The solution for these schools is simple: Abandon DEI and accept the most capable applicants, regardless of which identity boxes they happen to check,” Kingsbury said.

Do No Harm is an organization of “physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and policymakers focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice,” according to its website.

Do No Harm’s new Center for Accountability in Medicine is intended to “expose and hold accountable medical institutions that push divisive identity politics” and does so via “a data-driven and research-focused approach,” according to a press release.

Of the 28 schools that received an F grade, the University of California Davis School of Medicine, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Central Michigan University College of Medicine, and Oregon Health & Science University College of Medicine ranked as the “worst,” according to the press release.

The Center Square sought comment from all four, but only the University of New Mexico School of Medicine responded with a future intention to provide comment. No further response was received by the time of publishing.

Do No Harm announced its new Center for Accountability in Medicine (CAM) this week, along with the center’s “inaugural publication,” the Medical School Excellence Index – which awards the A through F grades to medical schools.

The release said that the Center for Accountability in Medicine “will provide valuable resources to the public on which schools, medical associations, and academic journals are adhering to core principles of excellence and merit instead of political ideology.”

The Center’s Medical School Excellence Index ranks according to “academic excellence, transparency, and rejection of DEI,” according to a Do No Harm report, and is the “first definitive ranking of U.S. medical schools” of its kind, according to the press release.

The Index’s webpage states that “across the country, medical schools are abandoning merit and excellence in favor of divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates.”

“Our rankings expose which schools are prioritizing politics over patients, revealing the worst offenders and highlighting those still committed to true medical excellence,” the Index said.

The best ranked medical schools, according to a press release, are the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the University of Michigan Medical School, and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The press release states that the Index serves as a counter to “traditional rankings, which often favor DEI programs or ignore their detrimental effects.”