Skip to content

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

Medical School

Mailing Address
450 Clarkson Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11203
Phone
(718) 270-1000
Email address
admissions@downstate.edu
School Information
"In 1860, the College of Medicine that became Downstate was the world's first to bring medical students to patient bedsides. Today, we're changing education by not just emphasizing patient care, but student support, as well. The rigorous standard of our training remains the same. But we're doing more than ever to ensure your voice is heard through our student-first philosophy. More doctors in New York City trained at Downstate than any other medical college. We offer training in 56 specialties across our five schools and colleges, teaching nearly 1,900 students a year." (Source: https://www.downstate.edu/about/)

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • One of the diversity and inclusion goals of the university's Campus Strategic Diversity Plan is to "maintain or increase the percentage of under-represented populations present in the student body."
  • The university's Office of Diversity Education and Research published its 2020 Diversity Report which quotes the Associate Dean who said, "We aspire to transform academic medicine through curricular innovations that will produce the next generation of compassionate healers, innovative scientists, and health equity and social justice advocates."
  • The Strategic Diversity Plan states that the "Office for Institutional Equity will have a representative on all schools admission committees actively engaged in the recruitment, interview, and admission process."
  • Downstate has a "Strategic Diversity Plan" which states the school's mission is "to recruit and maintain a staff and student body that is representative of the diverse ethnic patient populations [it] serves." The plan continues with the goal "to maintain or increase the number of women present in the student body."
  • The Department of Surgery "reviews resident applications holistically, picture blind, to assure that implicit biases are minimized." They add, "We look especially for applicants who come from the immigrant communities we serve, regardless of where in the US they are educated."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • One of the diversity and inclusion goals of the university's Campus Strategic Diversity Plan is to "Implement educational programs that will provide all students with skills in crosscultural [sic] communication and cultural sensitivity skills that will enable them to effectively communicate and interact with an increasingly global and multiethnic patient population."
  • The Office for Institutional Equity provides "trainings, seminars, and workshops on best practices for implementing programs that foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging." The office also implements educational programs that aim... "to tackle structural racism and health inequities."
  • The Department of Surgery requires "residents to participate in the AMA-GME Competency Education Program that includes mandatory completion of modules including cultural competency and managing unconscious bias," among other topics.  
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • The university's Campus Strategic Diversity Plan includes the following curriculum goals: "Infuse content on evidence-based care for culturally diverse populations in all program curricula" and "Collaborate with Provost and academic deans to develop integrated evidence-based care for culturally diverse populations into each school's curriculum."
  • The university's Office of Diversity Education and Research published its 2020 Diversity Report which includes a message from the university's Dean who stated, "My goal as Dean is to support and create an institutional culture where diversity and inclusion are ingrained in medical education, patient care, research and interactions with our community...The office has implemented educational programs that integrate health disparities, social determinants of health, and health equity as part of the medical school curriculum."
  • The College of Medicine has a Diversity Statement that states the college aspires "to transform academic medicine through curricular innovations that will produce the next generation of compassionate healers, innovative scientists, and health equity and social justice advocates." Furthermore, one of the college's diversity values is engaging "in self-reflection on... internal biases and [seeking] opportunities to share, learn, and grow."
Faculty/Staff Requirements
  • The university's Department of Surgery "require[s] both faculty and residents to participate in the AMA-GME Competency Education Program that includes mandatory completion of modules including cultural competency, managing unconscious bias, resident intimidation, working effectively within an inter professional team, and teamwork and communication."
Program and Research Funding
  • The Office of Diversity Education and Research is responsible for running programs "that attract and retain students, trainees, and faculty from diverse backgrounds who are interested in medicine and biomedical research."
  • The university's Campus Strategic Diversity Plan outlines many of its programs that have the aim to "strengthen its impact on medically underserved communities as well as increase diversity among doctors and other allied health professionals." One such program is the Urban Universities for HEALTH, which is a "four-year grant funded by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the NIH's National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)." The program "engages five academic institutions leading innovative workforce efforts that address health disparities."
  • The university's Hunter-Weill T32 Transdisciplinary Training Program is a "research training program targeting underrepresented minorities who have earned their doctoral degree." The goal of the program is to "increase opportunities for minority researchers in the area of health disparities research with a focus on diseases of the heart and lungs."
  • The university's Office of Diversity Education and Research published its 2020 Diversity Report which states that the Office's Director "has secured over $8,000,000 in pipeline program funding for the office since 2004 through federal and state sources."
  • The Graduate Medical Education has a "Diversity and Inclusion Mentorship Program." The program provides "faculty-to-trainee mentorship" and "peer-to-peer mentoring for residents and fellows" for all backgrounds but specifically those "who may face unique challenges based on their diverse experiences."  
  • Health Equity Advocacy Leadership Pathway (HEAL) was created for students "who are passionate about tackling social determinants of health, addressing health inequities, eliminating social injustices, and reducing disparities." The mission of the program is to prepare and equip physicians who can "address social determinants of health."
Resources
  • On February 22, 2023, the university hosted an event titled "Decolonizing Neurosurgery in Black Communities: A Brooklyn Haitian-American Perspective," which featured speaker Ernest Barthélemy, M.D., MPH, MA, Neurosurgery Division chief at Downstate HSU.
  • One of the diversity and inclusion goals of the university's Campus Strategic Diversity Plan is to "Incorporate diversity and inclusion goals in faculty evaluations."
  • The university's Office of Diversity Education and Research published its 2020 Diversity Report which quotes the Associate Dean who said, "We aspire to transform academic medicine through curricular innovations that will produce the next generation of compassionate healers, innovative scientists, and health equity and social justice advocates."
  • The university's Office of Diversity Education and Research published its 2020 Diversity Report which addresses the topic of racism with the following statement: "2020 completely changed the world as we know it. Not only are we coping with a devastating pandemic that has taken so many lives, but we are coping with another debilitating condition that has been plaguing our communities for centuries: RACISM. As if COVID-19 was not enough, the effects of police brutality, bias, and injustice continue to cause incalculable loss of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
  • The university's Office of Diversity Education and Research published its 2020 Diversity Report which states, "Our office remains committed to our students, faculty, staff, and our community by continuing to create opportunities for racial justice, community advocacy, and engagement and diversity education."
  • On September 26, 2022, the President's Bulletin announced that the "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guidelines Task Force of the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO)" released its new guidelines that "address the systemic racism that continues to impact health outcomes." The guidelines are "broad in scope and full of valuable and specific suggestions to increase diversity, foster inclusivity, and eliminate bias and stereotypes."
  • In March 2024, the Office of the President released a statement titled "The Reality of Racism as a Public Health Crisis." It highlighted the Black History Month panel discussion, with the same title, which discussed "the intersection of racism and public health." Panelists covered how "systemic racism amplifies health disparities within minority communities," and shared "distinct viewpoints and firsthand experiences about the impact of racism on health outcomes."
Symbolic Actions
  • On June 30, 2023, the university signed on to the Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY) statement in response to the Supreme Court's decision regarding race-conscious admission policies, which stated the following: "The consortium of the 17 medical schools of New York State, is profoundly concerned that the United State Supreme Court decisions in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina will diminish opportunities for talented students pursuing careers in medicine and science. These decisions reject a longstanding precedent that recognized the compelling interest of ensuring diversity in higher education and may undermine recent advances to address inequities in medical education and research."
Last updated October 1st, 2024
©2024 Critical Race Training in Education. All rights reserved.