Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University

Wokeness has now become a requirement at Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) Schmidt College of Medicine. Year after year, FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine sends out a list of secondary questions to applicants to gather as much information as they can about them. The questions asked, vary each year, but are typically focused on the culture, values, and priorities of the med school. At FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine, one of their values and priorities is Within this list of secondary questions, the school asks several questions regarding identity politics. For example, the following questions were asked during the 2021-2022 application cycle: (1) “Diversity means understanding that each individual is unique and recognizing our individual differences. Describe what uniqueness you would bring to the Schmidt COM. We are proud to already have a medical school rich in cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. What values, skills, talents, and life experiences would you add to our culture?” (2) “As a community, FAU Schmidt COM has made a commitment to be anti-racist and address systemic racism in education and healthcare. Institutionalized racism can be defined as “macro-level systems, social forces, institutions, ideologies, and processes that interact with one another to generate and reinforce inequities among racial and ethnic groups.” As a future medical student at FAU, how can you play an active role in addressing and dismantling systemic racism?” and (3) “One of the values of the FAU Schmidt College of Medicine is to provide the best medical care for all people. A major challenge for all physicians to provide the best medical care are Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). These can be defined as “conditions in the social, physical, and economic environment in which people are born, live, work, and age.” What will you as a future doctor do to address SDOH?” Lastly, the following question was asked in the 2022-2023 application cycle: “The Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine has made a commitment to foster an inclusive environment in which every person in our medical school community has the ability to achieve their full potential. We are proud to have a medical school rich in cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. What values, skills, talents, and life experiences would you contribute to our community?” In each of these questions, it is evident that FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine is trying to gauge which applicants will pledge their devotion to solving social problems and identity politics. The college of medicine appears more interested in an applicant’s ability to demonstrate the ways they have increased and furthered anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion within their community and how that will transfer over rather than producing good physicians.

The Diversity and Inclusion Office at FAU Schmidt College of Medicine has a number of Community Engagement & Pathway Programs to support the school’s commitment “to addressing the under-representation of minorities in medicine and biomedical research.”

The college's 2023-2028 Strategic Plan states that the college would recruit and retain "trainees and faculty in South Florida that are reflective of our community."

In South Florida and around the United States the demand to find a Black doctor is ever increasing. The demand for shared experience, culture, and values has increased dramatically over the years as it is in these things Black patients can find “a sense of safety, validation, and trust.” As research has shown that “racism, discrimination, and unconscious bias continue to plague the U.S. health care system and cause unequal treatment for racial and ethnic minorities,” Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine has decided to take action and put an end to the “dismissive, condescending, and inpatients” Black patients may be feeling from their clinicians. FAU’s College of Medicine has designed a new training curriculum in which “medical students are being taught to ask patients about their history and experiences in addition to their bodily health.” For example, students are now taught to ask patients “have you ever felt discriminated against?” or “Do you feel safe communicating your needs.” Racism and health have become a core learning subject for FAU’s medical students from their very first year. Lastly, FAU’s College of Medicine has set up a partnership with Florida A&M University, a historically Black university. This partnership enables “undergraduates who want to become doctors to be mentored as they complete their pre-med studies, and those who hit certain benchmarks are admitted to Schmidt after they graduate.”

The college's "Ethics, Professionalism & Professional Identity" curriculum thread states that "Professional identity formation (PIF) is critically important because it pertains to a student’s very being: attitudes and biases, affective self-awareness, empathy, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and virtues ranging from humility and diligence to altruism and self-care."

Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine is currently hiring a Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program – Assistant/Associate Professor of Medicine. According to the job description, these are a few of the minimum qualifications for this job: (1) “experience working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, (2) demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and (3) [be] passionate about working in an organization that values and promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.”

Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine Library has produced a guide of shared resources about “race and racism for the medical field.” This resource provides “information specific to healthcare, as well as general background resources to understand race and racism as a whole within society.”

According to a February 7, 2022, US Department of Labor Blog, the college has "revised its curriculum to incorporate training on the impact of implicit bias in medicine: 'Medical students start learning about racism in health care during their first year, and as they go, they also learn how to communicate with patients from various cultures and backgrounds'.”

At Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine’s 10th White Coat Ceremony in 2020, Dean Philip M. Boiselle pointed out that in the midst of a global pandemic it has become evident that the widespread healthcare disparities are prominent and need to be addressed. Ultimately reminding them of their “collective obligation to addressing inequalities in health care.” He continues by explaining “as the newest members of the Schmidt College of Medicine, [they] are joining a community that is committed to addressing healthcare disparities and inequities, to promoting social justice, and to confronting discrimination and bias in all forms.” At the conclusion of the ceremony, students recited an “oath of compassion, which was collectively written.” In this oath students pledged “to be culturally sensitive toward our peers and patients;” “embody anti-racism while actively combating healthcare disparities;” and “commit ourselves to continually expanding our medical and cultural knowledge to benefit our patients.”

According to the US News and World Report Rankings, FAU College of Medicine was ranked as number 35 in the Most Diverse Medical School.