Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

The medical school’s Anti-Racist Admissions Working Group expanded the admissions committee to include under-represented groups and added a question to admissions applications on the “applicant’s experiences with racism to BUSM’s secondary application for entry in fall 2021.”

The Diversity and Inclusion Office states that the "Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion participates in the interviewing and selection of students for admission to Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine."

The Diversity and Inclusion Office states, "Recruiting and retaining a heterogeneous student body and faculty are a priority" and "Our office commits to developing innovative programs that educate, recruit, and retain a diverse, multicultural community of faculty, students, staff, and trainees."

On September 29, 2021, the school hosted a Race and Medicine Symposium discussing racism, diversity, equity, and justice.

The Creating Leadership and Education to Address Racism (CLEAR) program at the medical school provides medical students knowledge of race, racism, and equity “through formal curriculum development as well as a 6-week enrichment series on Racism in Medicine, featuring topics of history of racism in medicine, anti-racism 101, racism and genetics, critical race theory, racism on the wards, current clinical cases, and more.”

On February 22, 2021, the school's Office of Equity, Vitality, and Inclusion published its report entitled, "Review Based Guidelines For The Equitable Appointment Of Leadership Roles" which include the following recommendations; "Search Committee has taken the Gender-Career and Race Implicit Association Test (IAT) and implicit bias training at least once every three years" and "Participation in implicit bias training is important for all members of the standing search committee."

The Department of Medicine is participating in the "Bias Reduction in Internal Medicine (BRIM) Initiative, an NIH-funded study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison." The initiative features a three hour workshop with three "modules" including: "Implicit bias as a habit," "Becoming bias literate: If you name it, you can tame it," and "Evidence-based strategies to break the bias habit."

The Boston University Medical Campus offers seminars which “focus on leadership, education, research, quality improvement, wellness, diversity/inclusion and academic promotion” through the 2022-2023 school year.

The SOM's 2024-2025 Clerkship Guidelines brochure summarizes its DEI initiatives which include the following items: "Continued didactics on Social disparities- incorporation of microaggression LIFT training," and "[I]ndividual perceptions on role of health, awareness of health care disparities, importance of meeting healthcare needs of underserved populations; awareness of gender/cultural biases."

The Department of Graduate Medical Science's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility Office "sponsors various events, workshops and networking events for underrepresented students and faculty" and "promote[s] opportunities for our students, faculty and staff to participate in medical campus and University-wide workshops, lectures & training in support of a more inclusive learning environment."

As of November 29, 2021, BUSM is in the implementation phase of modifying the school’s curriculum in an effort to eliminate racism based on a Racism in Medicine Report from a group of BUSM medical students.

The SOM's 2024-2025 Clerkship Guidelines brochure includes the following Medical Education Program Objectives: "Comprehend the historical and current drivers of structural vulnerability, racism, sexism, oppression, and historical marginalization and how they create health inequity," "Recognize explicit and implicit biases that can lead to diagnostic error and use mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of cognitive biases on decision making," and "Explain how one's own identity, lived experiences, privileges, and biases influences their perspectives of colleagues, patients and clinical decision making."

Researchers at BUSM studied “the need for anti-racism in kidney care.”

The Early Medical School Selection Program at the SOM is "nationally recognized as a unique effort to increase diversity in the physician workforce..." and "provides a supportive environment with gradual transition into the medical school curriculum during the summer terms after sophomore and junior years, and during senior year." 

The Diversity and Inclusion Office at the SOM "will support and promote all research efforts that recognize and value diversity and inclusion as a tool to reduce health inequities and improve the health of historically marginalized and underserved populations."

The Department of Graduate Medical Sciences provides several outreach programs in order to "[increase] access to graduate education for groups traditionally underrepresented in the biomedical sciences."

The BU School of Medicine’s Anti-Racism Resources page references Ibram X Kendi’s teachings “to change a system deeply rooted in inequality, racism, and murder.”

The school lists a number of books, websites, articles, podcasts, and videos to teach its students and staff on “allyship” and how to “become anti-racist,” including Ibram X Kendi’s “How to be an Anti-Racist” book.

The schools Diversity and Inclusion department has a number of programs to increase diversity and promote equity and justice including its Early Medical School Selection Program (EMSSP) and the Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship.

In the fall of 2020, Boston University School of Medicine and the Boston Medical Center published the "Report from the Committee to Reduce Implicit and Explicit Bias in Research" which states that the goal of the Committee was to "recommend systems-level changes to identify and minimize racism, sexism and other forms of bias in research design and reporting."

The theme for the school's 17th Annual (2022) John McCahan Medical Campus Education Day was titled "Advancing Intercultural & Inclusive Practices in the Classroom" which "focused on creating sustainable habits to shape more equitable learning environments across the Medical Campus."

The school hosts a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility of the Year Award.

The School of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology “faculty search committees will include a DEI advocate,” and members “will receive training on elimination of bias from faculty searches. and participate in university-wide efforts to improve faculty diversity, including the Faculty Development and Diversity Program.” The school factors in DEI activities when making decisions on hiring and promotion of faculty.

The School of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology states that it partners with the office of the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in order to “promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for all department members.”

The school has a Diversity Advisory Group which “serves as a sounding board to discuss diversity-related matters on campus, and to provide balanced guidance in this space.”