University of Colorado School of Medicine

The organization Do No Harm also compiled "Verbatim excerpts from the secondary application questions posted on ProspectiveDoctor.com." According to the report, the school asks, "These could include your socioeconomic status, culture, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and work or life experiences. Explain how these have influenced your goals and preparation for a career in medicine."

UCSOM's 2015 Diversity Plan states (as part of its medical school recruitment "background and rationale") that "medical schools cannot be solely in the business of awarding medical degrees to honor their applicants’ past achievements and credentials" but that "'[it] is the total class balance, not merely the virtuosity of the individuals who make up the class, that defines the very objective of the admission process'.” The plan continues, "Medical schools have an educational and societal obligation to select and educate a balanced health care workforce for the future, one that is best equipped to serve all of our nation’s and our state’s communities."

For the month of April 2022, the Department of Medicine encourages their “faculty, staff and trainees to participate in a 30day Anti-Racism Challenge” to address “power, privilege, oppression, equity and social justice” as part of “recognizing racism as a public health threat.”

The School of Medicine’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion offers training in systemic racism, implicit bias, microaggressions, allyship, and power and privilege.

The Department of Medicine published its mission as it relates to "Diversity and Justice" which includes the following: "Infuse justice and inclusivity into every aspect of research, education, citizenship, service and clinical activities," "Enhance awareness of implicit bias in all faculty and staff," and "Develop tools to explore and address implicit bias."

The school published a document titled “'It Starts With Us'” Series: Bias Training for Internal Medicine Residents" which describes its new "bias training curriculum" for the 2020-2021 academic year. The curriculum was created "to address awareness of and behavior around implicit bias and structural racism in academic medicine."

The school's Department of Medicine released its "Equity and Inclusion Policy for Department Committee Membership" and state under "Policy 2" that "All DOM committee members will be required to undergo unconscious bias training." Part six of policy 2 states that "Only faculty who have participated in face-to-face bias workshops will be considered for DOM Standing,"

On October 26, 2021, students, faculty, and staff from the university joined the “White Coats for Black Lives Die-In 2021” to “recognize lives lost and impacted by racial injustice.”

The school's News edition titled the "Quarterly Connection" for July 2023, outlines several of the medical school's pathway programs which support "potential future students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in science professions."

The university has a website dedicated to its diversity, equity, inclusion and access progress to date listing specific plans, activities, hirings, and investments towards the Strategic Plan for the institution.

The university has a website titled “Discussions on Race and Civil Rights” where they discuss “white privilege,” “white fragility,” how to “use our privilege,” and how to “be an ally.”

The School of Medicine provides Anti-Racism Resources on “Educating Yourself as an Ally” where they provide numerous articles, videos, streaming programs, blogs, and books including Ibram X. Kendi’s book “How to be an Anti-Racist.”

On May 30, 2023, the school's Department of Surgery published an article titled "Pediatric Trauma Surgery Patients with Higher Social Vulnerability Experience Worse Post-Surgical Outcome," which states in part that "Those with high SVI [Social Vulnerability Index] percentiles were more likely to belong to a minority group, have government-issued insurance, present with penetrating injuries, and develop surgical site infections compared to the low SVI group."

On May 22, 2023, the school's News webpage announced the new CU Pharmacy Inaugural Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion - Erika Freitas, PhD. Freitas stated the following: "To me, the order matters and it should be equity first...because that’s where we have the potential to make more immediate impact. And without equity, diversity and inclusion will never achieve the needed depth for true transformation."

On May 17, 2023, the school's News announced that, in partnership with the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA), it launched the Hummingbird Initiative, "a program that aims to increase diversity in the state’s behavioral health workforce."

On June 19, 2023, the school's News webpage published an article titled "Improving the Lives of Black Mothers and Their Children," which discusses the work of an assistant professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University Colorado School of Medicine. Shaleah Darda is working to "change the trajectory of racial disparities in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality among African Americans."

The Department of Medicine Chair released a statement addressing the nationwide civil rights protests following the “recent killings of George Floyd, Atatiana Jefferson, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Eric Garner” and how these “have magnified the health disparities that are rooted in racism and socioeconomics in our country.”

On June 29, 2023, the school signed on to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) statement in response to the Supreme Court's decision regarding race-conscious admission policies, which stated the following: “We are deeply disappointed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to dismantle its longstanding precedent in the 2003 case, Grutter v. Bollinger, which had recognized student body diversity as a compelling interest permitting the limited consideration of race in admissions. Today’s decision demonstrates a lack of understanding of the critical benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in educational settings and a failure to recognize the urgent need to address health inequities in our country.”

On June 29, 2023, the school published its response to the Supreme Court's decision regarding race-conscious admission policies which stated the following: "We are disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision to prohibit the limited consideration of an applicant’s racial or ethnic background in the higher education admissions process at universities across the country. The decision sets back efforts to remedy disparities in healthcare by constraining whom we can admit as future physicians, researchers, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, public health leaders, and other healthcare professionals serving our community. Limiting the ability of universities to address inequities hurts all of us and is particularly harmful to those who need help the most."

In the beginning of 2023, University of Colorado Family Medicine Residency announced that it won the "University of Colorado's President's Diversity Award, unit category, for their diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism program."