Tufts University School of Medicine

As part of the DEI Initiatives at Tufts University School of Medicine, The Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (DEAR) Council provides oversight to the MD Admissions Task Force that is “charged with identifying and reviewing the MD admissions process to ensure that we practice the highest standards, and to identify and remove biases that may disadvantage those underrepresented in medicine or other students from marginalized backgrounds.”

On June 29, 2023, the school published its response to the Supreme Court's decision regarding race-conscious admission policies and stated the following: “We believe that the court majority—despite arguments made by Tufts and other institutions—failed to appropriately consider decades of academic research and institutional experience, including our experience at Tufts over the past several years, demonstrating that diversity drives institutional excellence. We must—and we will—respect the law, but nothing the court said today will change our institutional values and our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging."

In its "Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity Highlights Report 2023", Tufts School of Medicine reported that it had hosted a “Serving Language Minority Patients Summit” that brought together stakeholders including patients, clinicians, hospital leaders, community members, and DEI champions. Twelve projects focusing on language access, community-hospital partnerships, providing equitable care and research, and advocacy were presented followed by a keynote on “Language and Inclusion: Opportunities to Optimize Quality in Healthcare” by Dr. Claire Pomeroy.

"Breaking the Silence—Confronting Exclusion in Research" is a series of symposia designed to address issues of bias and discrimination influencing the experiences of faculty, staff, and students that came from the "need to give voice to the lack of diversity throughout the research enterprise, including lack of representation and funding for research done by investigators of color and lack of inclusion of communities of color in clinical research."

Tufts University School of Medicine created a strategic plan where the school promises to "provide all students in all degree programs with a robust anti-racism curriculum that is multi-disciplinary, comprehensive and threaded throughout entire curricula, including clinical training."

The school will "hold students, faculty and administrators accountable for maintaining and supporting an anti-racist environment" and "assure that teaching, research and practice at TUSM are grounded in accurate and up-to-date scientific knowledge, including the understanding of race as a social construct."

The MD Curriculum Committee at Tufts University School of Medicine formed the Anti-Racism Task Force that is “charged with making recommendations as to how the MD curriculum can become more anti-racist.”

In 2019, a new MD curriculum was implemented that emphasizes "social determinants of health and historically overlooked aspects of health care." This curriculum is supposed to help students understand health inequities and brings the problem to the forefront of the curriculum.

As part of the School of Medicine’s curriculum, the school offers “a two-week elective in Health Advocacy and Health Disparities.”

The school offers a program for Bias Reduction in Medicine.

The school states that it will "provide opportunities for anti-racism and anti-bias training for all staff, clinical faculty and basic science/research faculty."

The school will "play a leadership role in AAMC and other local, state, regional and national organizations in creating a medical education system that is actively anti-racist."

The school will "invest in infrastructure that coordinates anti-racism education and research within TUSM."

Tufts University School of Medicine’s Neuroscience Department “has created a fund to support DEI efforts” and lists resources for all the DEI-focused funding opportunities.

In 2023, Tufts Medicine Integrated Network (TMIN) was awarded a total of $1,217,591 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) for the purposes of implementing a clinical intervention program focused on health equity, titled the Hypertension and Health Equity Program (HHEP). The TMIN will engage in health equity work by "1) collecting Race, Ethnicity, and Language (REaL) data, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) data, and Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) data, and 2) target disparities in hypertensive population related to blood pressure control."

In the spring of 2021, Tufts Medicine launched the DEI Mentorship Subcommittee of the DEI Council at Lowell General Hospital. Started by Breast Surgeon Dr. Lerna Ozcan and Family Medicine Physician Dr. Sangita Pillai, the group invests in Lowell General Hospital’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) employees and volunteers by "pairing those interested in becoming healthcare providers with volunteer mentors who help them with career growth and advancement goals." The DEI Mentorship Subcommittee is also dedicated to "creating a diverse workforce through mentoring BIPOC youth in the community who are interested in health careers by partnering with local youth programs such as the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lowell." There are plans to expand the program to other Tufts Medicine entities.

In 2019, the Tufts University School of Medicine FM clerkship launched an interactive educational session on racism and microaggressions in the clinical setting.

Tufts School of Medicine has a Center for STEM Diversity, which seeks to "create points of access for all students" and "actively strengthen partnerships and DEIJ efforts that break down systemic and institutional barriers to those historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics."

The Hirsh Health Sciences Library has an Anti-Racism Resource Guide for BIPOC people.

The Center for Science Education (CSE) was founded in 2009 to design and study new approaches to engage high school students from underresourced and underrepresented backgrounds in science.

DEI organizations at the School of Medicine include the SPINES, an inclusive organization that works to foster the success of underrepresented trainees and staff by through events, and Tufts Biomedical Queer Alliance.

The Pipeline Programs at Tufts School of Medicine and the Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences serves to increase the interests of underrepresented students in low socioeconomic and disadvantaged communities and inspire young people to consider the fields of medicine, biomedical sciences, and health professions.

In September 2024, the non-profit organization Do No Harm published a report titled “Activism Instead of Anatomy: The Sorry State of Medical School Curricula” which reported the following: "[Tufts] medical school committed itself to 'provide all students in all degree programs with a robust anti-racism curriculum that is multi-disciplinary, comprehensive and threaded throughout entire curricula, including clinical training' and to 'hold students, faculty and administrators accountable for maintaining and supporting an anti-racist environment'."

As part of the Tufts University School of Medicine DEI Initiatives, several “leadership positions have been created and filled to ensure that our DEI mission is at the forefront of decision making processes at the school.”

In order to promote DEI Initiatives, the Anti-Racism Committee was formed at Tufts University School of Medicine with its focus on “ensuring that the School of Medicine makes progress toward achieving its Strategic Goals, especially those related to diversity and inclusion.”

Tufts University School of Medicine Office of Multicultural Affairs sponsored the Leadership, Education, Advancement, and Diversity (LEAD) Scholars Program which “provides the unique opportunity to directly address racial disparities in health and reaching health equity through research and practice and provides as a mechanism to build a more diverse Tufts School of Medicine healthcare and biomedical research community.”

As part of the 2021-2025 Strategic Plans Goals, the committee plans to “transform TUSM into an Anti-Racist Institution” and to “Achieve Inclusive Excellence to ensure the equitable opportunity to learn and work in a diverse environment.”

The Innovations in Diversity Education Awards (IDEAS) at Tufts University School of Medicine “supports faculty to develop novel ideas to enhance our educational programs. IDEAS supports interventions aimed at addressing knowledge, attitude and skills in anti-racism, cross-cultural medicine and enhancing workforce diversity and student development.”

Tufts University School of Medicine launched the new DEI Academy as a “new offering providing developmental experiences and programs to equip our #OneTuftsMedicine team with the skills to advance inclusion, behaviors to transform our culture, and knowledge to achieve equity.”

The Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology and the Department of Neuroscience both have a DEI Committee.