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Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine at Western Michigan University

Medical School

Mailing Address
300 Portage Street
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007
Phone
(269) 337-4400
Email address
admissions@wmed.edu
School Information
"The year 2021 was another significant milestone for WMed as we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the medical school...We currently have 337 students enrolled in our M.D. program as well as master’s degree programs in Biomedical Sciences and Medical Engineering...All of our residency training positions in our graduate medical education programs are consistently filled; we currently have more than 240 residents and fellows training in 10 residencies and five fellowships serving patients throughout southwest Michigan. WMed Health, the medical school’s clinical practice, offers more than 36 comprehensive primary care and specialty services in Kalamazoo, Portage, and Battle Creek, providing more than 67,000 outpatient visits per year. Our Department of Pathology faculty serve as the Office of the Medical Examiner (coroner) for counties throughout Michigan and northern Indiana, performing more than 1,000 autopsies each year." (Source: https://wmed.edu/node/305)

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • Regarding the topic of a diverse student body, the school states that "Several initiatives are used to foster inclusiveness and diversity including our Medical Student Recruitment Plan that guides the process to recruit medical students, with specific actions to continue to enhance the diversity of our medical student body."
  • The school's General Surgery Residency Program states, "We specifically seek a diverse applicant pool by marketing our fourth-year electives to medical students from groups typically underrepresented in medicine."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • The school's Ally Training Program "serves as a catalyst for culture change at the medical school and is helping to embed the work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice into the fabric of the institution." The program "involves participation by at least one person from every department and administrative unit at the medical school, in a series of workshop presentations on topics including implicit bias, systemic racism, mental health inequities, LGBTQ+ inequities, gender bias, and ableism."
  • The school's General Surgery Residency Program states that it "implements annual actions to enhance our commitment to diversity, including required annual education for faculty and residents focused on unconscious bias, as well as diversity and cultural sensitivity."
Faculty/Staff Requirements
  • Regarding residency recruitment, the school states that "The organization implements annual actions to enhance our commitment to diversity, including required annual education for faculty and residents focused on unconscious bias, as well as diversity and cultural sensitivity."
Program and Research Funding
  • On June 8, 2021, the school received a gift of $300 million titled the "Empowering Futures Gift." The school describes the need for this grant in the following way: "Through the development of new strategies to attract and retain students and educators of color, innovations in curricula and teaching pedagogy, and creative partnerships with healthcare, business, and education are needed for WMed to become a more inclusive and diverse learning community."
Resources
  • The school's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion podcast series is "drawn" from the "Courageous Conversations" speaker series and "aims to provide education on diversity, equity, inclusiveness, and social justice to the WMed and surrounding community."
  • On June 25, 2020, the school published an article titled "Medical School Community Takes a Stand Against Racism Amid Nationwide Unrest," which states that the school's community "took a stand against racism with several events in June, from voicing that black lives matter, to denouncing racism and holding tough conversations about race." The article features a picture of medical school community members holding a sign that says "White Coats for Black Lives." 
Symbolic Actions
  • On June 5, 2020, school leadership issued a "Statement on Racial Inequity" and said, "The deeply rooted problems of racial inequality and structural racism in America have come again to the forefront with the wrongful deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd." Additionally, the school's leaders stated the following: "We are compelled to Demonstrate our commitment to the community by re-affirming and demonstrating our willingness to eliminate any racism, discrimination, and bias within our own institution, in our service to the community, in our education of learners, and in the care that we provide to our patients and their families."
Last updated June 29th, 2023
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