Georgetown University School of Medicine

The school has a program known as ARCHES, otherwise known to be the School of Medicine’s Academy for Research, Clinical, and Health Equity Scholarship. This program “is one of a host of Georgetown initiatives designed to create a pipeline into medical school for underrepresented high school, college, and post-baccalaureate students.”

The school states, "The GUMC community puts its commitment to anti-racism, racial justice and equity into motion through dozens of structures, committees, grants, and pipeline programs, and with curriculum reforms and community engagement."

In 2022, it was announced that "before taking part in the White Coat Ceremony, a tradition that officially marks the start of their medical education at Georgetown, incoming School of Medicine students first learned about racism and medicine through their required anti-racism summer reading."

The school's Council on Diversity Affairs "Priorities" include "Curriculum Development: to indulge interest in ideas or projects that integrate diversity and inclusion within the curriculum of medical school student training."

The school outlines its "Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Medicine Scholarly Track" and states that upon completion students will be able to "Understand the role of discrimination, bias, microaggressions, and racism in the ability to deliver equitable care and use increased competency in anti-racism, cultural humility, social justice, racial equity, allyship, disabusing disability, gender/sexuality issues, and LGBTQ+ promotion and acceptance to eliminate health disparities and improve health equity."

The school outlines its "Health Justice Scholar Track" curriculum and states its mission is "To provide future physicians with key knowledge needed to practice medicine through a health justice and racial equity lens."

The school's Medical Student Life Advisory Committee outlines its "Procedures for Reporting an Incident of Mistreatment, Bias, or Harassment" and states, "A medical student who feels that they have witnessed or experienced any type of bias, harassment, or mistreatment in the learning environment may contact the Medical Student Life Advisory Committee (MSLAC)."

On June 29, 2023, the school made a university-wide statement announcing that it was “disappointed” with the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action. The statement concluded in saying, “In the time ahead, we will convene academic and admissions leaders from across the University to facilitate our collective efforts to assess the impacts of today’s decision on current programs and determine our next steps in fostering an inclusive campus community.”

In 2022, it was announced that the National Institutes of Health awarded the school with a grant that will "invigorate the workforce and inspire students from diverse backgrounds to pursue doctoral degrees in the biomedical sciences by funding the Georgetown University Initiative for Maximizing Student Development" and "train a diverse, multidisciplinary group of graduate students, targeting enrollment of individuals underrepresented in biomedical research."

The School of Medicine provides Racial Justice Resources in order to "show solidarity and stand against racism."

In 2022, GUMC announced the creation of two new websites for the Racial Justice Institute, a "research hub," and the Center for Men's Health Equity which incorporates "men's health equity, well-being, and social justice."

The school's Diversity page offers various resources on "Microaggressions in Medicine" including a step by step guide on "What To Do About Microaggressions."

The school's Diversity page introduces its program titled "Spaces & Places for Advocacy & Racial-Justice Knowledge (SPARK) which "aims to bring our community together by providing spaces to process current events, accelerating understanding around systemic racial inequities that pervade our country, developing skills for allyship, and committing to actions around advancing racial equity within our community."

On October 1, 2021, the school's Racial Justice Committee for Change published its 2020-2021 Report and Executive Summary and outlines its work and objectives which states in part, "We will incorporate clinical learning environment goals and objectives into the RJCC in the Curricular Reform subcommittee to directly address bias in clinical grading and mistreatment in the learning environment."

On June 3, 2020, over five hundred students of the school wrote an open letter to the school's administration and outlined ten actions on "how our institution can effect change now." These actions include: "Eradicate racism in campus policing," "Require race and ethnicity education prior to matriculation, and "Integrate a required and graded longitudinal course on Race & Medicine across all four years,"

The School of Medicine has a site dedicated to describing definitions for DEI related terms.

On May 29, 2020, in response to the "Murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery," the school's Dean issued a statement and said, "We recognize that many in our community are processing these painful tragedies and confronting structural inequalities that exist in healthcare and beyond," and that "we want to affirm our GUSOM community that we do NOT stand with the systemic racism that continues to prevail in our society."

On June 3, 2020, over five hundred students of the school wrote an open letter to the school's administration and stated, "The murders in recent headlines are only a glimpse into the pervasive racism that infects our society. From microaggressions to murder, we denounce all forms of racism and encourage everyone to actively decolonize our institutions and dismantle anti-Black racism and white supremacy."

It was announced that on April 13, the school held its annual event, “I, Too, Am Georgetown Medicine.” During this event, students in breakout rooms discussed topics such as “Fighting For Your Place in Medicine: Going Beyond ‘Diversity Initiatives.”

The school hosted a “free summer mentoring program started by School of Medicine students” which functions in “helping undergraduates who are underrepresented in medicine realize their dream of going to medical school.”