Medical schools blame anti-DEI for lack of black students

Medical schools across the country are struggling to recruit black students thanks to growing efforts against diversity, equity and inclusion from GOP lawmakers and the Supreme Court.

Researchers found that most black patients prefer to see doctors who look like them and experience better health outcomes. The revelation calls for an increase in black medical schools so they can train to become doctors. However, since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education, more than two dozen states have passed laws restricting DEI programs.

Specific legislation, according to school administrators and diversity advocates, it perpetuates the health disparities already experienced by people of color —Especially if former President Donald Trump wins in November 2024. “I don't expect this movement of anti-DEI legislation to slow or stop at all,” Anton Gunn, a health consultant and former head of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the US Department of Health and Human Services said.

“And it's likely to get worse if Donald Trump gets a chance to be president of the United States again.”

Jerrian Reedy recently completed his first year at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine on the journey to become an orthopedic surgeon. After witnessing medical trauma in her family at just nine years old, she decided to join the small number of only one in 10 doctors who identify as black or African American in the state of Mississippi. There are 660 medical students enrolled in the four-year program; Of that number, only 82 are black.

That number was on the verge of not growing as state GOP leaders Rep. Becky Currie and state Sen. Angela Burks Hill introduced legislation limiting how colleges and universities spend money on DEI initiatives. Hill released a statement saying the state needs doctors of all kinds, not just black doctors, and believes money spent on DEI salaries and programs should be directed toward initiatives that benefit all students. “Grads should determine who gets into medical school, not color or socioeconomic status,” he said.

“Can't we be happy with more highly qualified doctors, regardless of their skin color? I thought the goal was a color-blind society.”

Fortunately, both bills never came to a vote before the 2024 legislature.

In April 2024, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced the Embracing Anti-discrimination, Unbiased Curricula and Advancing Truth in Education (EDUCATE) Act as an attempt to block federal funding for medical schools which, he claims, “force students to affirm ideological beliefs and prioritize Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)”. “Wake-up universities are forcing America's future doctors to care more about race and gender than saving lives,” the veteran lawmaker said.

The limited number of black doctors in Mississippi is not new news. According to What I'm Reading, more than a million black people reside in a state that has fewer than 600 black doctors, and health outcomes are among the worst in the country. While a JAMA Network Open study found life expectancy extended for black patients in counties with higher numbers of black primary care physicians, former medical students feel the disparities are entrenched in systemic racism. “Many of the black doctors in the state have a bad taste in their mouths about our medical school,” said Demondes Haynes, a graduate of the class of 1999 at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

“We're not saying absolutely that every black patient should have a black doctor, but because the patient population in Mississippi is diverse, they should at least have the right to say, 'This is what I want.'

Despite efforts to halt the growth of black doctors, the University of Mississippi School of Medicine is still making the best move to recruit more interest from potential black students. For the past ten years, the school has hosted an African American Visit Day to encourage interest.

Similar events are also organized for Hispanic and Native American students; however, school administrators welcome all students to African American Day regardless of race, as the goal is to extend preferential treatment to minority applicants. “It's about shaping the possibilities of what could be,” said Loretta Jackson-Williams, vice dean for medical education.

“These kids are on this precipice where they can choose to do something that's really hard for their future, or they can choose an easier path. That choice doesn't happen overnight.”