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Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Medical School

Mailing Address
Health Education Campus
9501 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Phone
(216) 368-2000
School Information
"Since 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has been at the forefront of medical education, dedicated to enhancing human health, and a leader and innovator in healthcare education and biomedical research. The School's mission is three-fold: providing excellence in medical education through our unique curriculum, advancing discoveries from our laboratories to patients, and improving the health of our community. The School of Medicine is one of the top-25 medical schools in the country and both the #1 medical school and largest biomedical research institution in Ohio. It consistently ranks in the top tier of medical schools for NIH research funding. It has nearly two dozen program and degree options for prospective students and is 14th in the nation for graduating both successful faculty and Black physicians. In 2019, it opened the doors of a new 485,000 square foot Health Education Campus which brings together multiple health profession students from across the university under one roof to promote interprofessional education and collaborative practice." The school enrolls over 800 medical students, 800 master's students, and 380 doctoral students. It also employs more than 420 full-time basic science faculty and 2,300 full-time clinical faculty. (Source: https://case.edu/medicine/index.php/about)
General Information
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's 2021 Education Retreat focused on anti-racism. Sessions included “Keeping our Pledge to Health Equity and Anti-Racism,” “Curriculum Review: Value of what we teach, value of the hidden curriculum in training the next generation of physicians on anti-racism,” and “Excellence Through Equity and Inclusion Along the Pipeline: Sustaining the Momentum.” No mandatory Critical Race Training sessions are yet required of students. However, please see developments below:

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • The School's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan's admissions goal is to "Increase the number of minority students entering School of Medicine programs."
  • On July 5, 2023, the school published its response to the Supreme Court's decision regarding race-conscious admission policies and stated the following: "After awaiting the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that resulted in a ruling that race-based admissions are unconstitutional, we write to express that Case Western Reserve School of Medicine remains committed to its mission and values to improve global health by linking research to populations in a superb educational environment."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • The school published its "School of Medicine Diversity Strategic Action Plan 2020-2024" which outlines how "faculty and staff can strive toward a more inclusive and diverse educational atmosphere" through its many goals and strategies. Goal number three states, "Create a longitudinal core curriculum for faculty and staff that encourages awareness of unconscious bias, privilege, and self-reflection," and "Integrate faculty participation in leading diversity training into salary and promotion and tenure metrics."
  • The Department of Neurosciences states that, “The Interdisciplinary Neurosciences Training Program (INTP) actively participates in numerous programs and efforts that comprise a multi-faceted effort to improve inclusion, diversity, and equal opportunity in CWRU SOM training programs.”
  • The Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative within the School of Medicine is offering READI workshops for DEI in the Fall of 2023. One of the workshops calls upon participants to draft a Diversity Action Plan.
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • The School's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan's curriculum goal is to "Revise School of Medicine curriculum content over time to best reflect the changing demographics and to better integrate cultural humility."
  • The school published its "School of Medicine Diversity Strategic Action Plan 2020-2024" which outlines how "faculty and staff can strive toward a more inclusive and diverse educational atmosphere" through its many goals and strategies. Goal number two states, "Revise medical school curriculum to be more inclusive, more representative of population demographics, and less othering" and "Integrate diversity-related issues into SOM graduate degree programs."
Disciplinary Measures
  • The School's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan's reporting goal is to "Implement and sustain an incident portal system to facilitate responsive, transparent and easy reporting of bias-based behavior, especially mistreatment."
Faculty/Staff Requirements
  • The school plans to “integrate faculty participation in leading diversity training into salary and promotion and tenure metrics” according to the Diversity Strategic Action Plan of 2020-2024.
Resources
  • The school announced, “The School gives awards for promoting diversity at both the faculty and staff levels.”
  • The school’s 2021 Education Retreat focused on anti-racism. Sessions included “Keeping our Pledge to Health Equity and Anti-Racism,” “Curriculum Review: Value of what we teach, value of the hidden curriculum in training the next generation of physicians on anti-racism,” and “Excellence Through Equity and Inclusion Along the Pipeline: Sustaining the Momentum.”
  • The school hosts a regular webinar series on "racial disparity, social justice and the #OpioidCrisis," which it posts on both Twitter and Facebook. For instance, from November 2020: "Register for #CWRUSOM’s webinar, “Overcoming Stigma and Increasing Access: Challenges in Harm Reduction and Medication-Assisted Treatment,” from the series on racial disparity, social justice and the #OpioidCrisis, on Thursday, Nov. 19 from 3 – 5 p.m.: https://bit.ly/3kAkSLI"
  • On December 6, 2022, the School of Medicine planned to host another VITALS lecture centering on the topic, “Racism as a Public Health Crisis, Envisioning the Future,” hosted by the School of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence.
  • The school published its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan which includes "Climate assessment: Improve School of Medicine climate through a regularly scheduled climate/culture/engagement survey" and "Employee advocacy: Create/sustain the Inclusive Excellence Advocate program—diversity and equity professional development (at the department level)."
Symbolic Actions
  • The Department of Bioethics’ Anti-Racism, Inclusion, and Diversity Committee will, “Incorporate the values of anti-racism, inclusion, and diversity in our bioethics research, education, and service. To incorporate these values is not to suggest that a separate stream of work will be generated, as if in parallel to the status quo ante. This incorporation indicates that bioethics is inextricably linked with these values.”
  • The school has been an intense participant in the Health Improvement Plan. According to the school, “Four elements are emphasized in the plan: 1) eliminating structural racism; 2) linking public health and physician care; 3) chronic disease control, and; 4) healthy eating, active living.”
  • The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence at the School of Medicine “hosts a Monthly Diversity Book Dialogue to expand our commitment to diversity and promote dialogues in our school and community.”
  • The School of Medicine hosted numerous DEI events in June of 2023 as part of the school’s “goal is to embrace and promote diversity, inclusivity, and understanding while recognizing and appreciating the unique contributions of different communities.”
  • The School of Medicine’s CTSC hosts a READI Journal Club.
  • The School of Medicine formed a Diversity Strategic Action Plan for 2020-2024. One of the outlined goals calls upon the school to “develop and sustain a multiple speaker series that focuses on diversity- and inclusion-related issues.”
  • According to the Diversity Strategic Action Plan of 2020-2024, the school will “expand efforts to identify and implement diversity-related best practices and programming.”
Last updated April 23rd, 2024
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