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University of Minnesota Medical School

Medical School

Mailing Address
420 Delaware Street SE
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Phone
(612) 626-2935
Email address
meded@umn.edu
School Information
"Founded in 1888, the University of Minnesota Medical School educates students and graduate physicians, provides patient care, and performs biomedical and clinical research. "We offer medical, graduate and undergraduate degree programs, as well as continuing professional development. Our Medical School is one of the largest in the country, with two campuses based in the Twin Cities and Duluth, Minnesota. The Twin Cities campus is an interdisciplinary research center. Our Duluth campus educates 130 first and second-year medical students committed to practicing in rural or American Indian communities." The school enrolls 932 M.D. students & 402 graduate students, employs nearly 3,000 faculty members, and offers 29 degree programs (Source: https://med.umn.edu/about) (Source: https://med.umn.edu/about/facts-figures)
General Information
The school said, "A team of University of Minnesota researchers brought together a multiracial group of health professionals from across various fields to develop an anti-racism curriculum for first-year medical students at the University’s Medical School," using the "methodology called Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) that helps researchers remain attentive to issues of equity in their work." Additionally, City Journal reported, "The University of Minnesota School of Medicine collaborates on its curriculum with the Medical Education Reform Student Coalition (MERSC), an offshoot of the activist organization White Coats 4 Black Lives." See developments below:

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • According to a report by Do No Harm, the school asks, "Our country is reckoning with its history, racism, racial injustice, and especially anti-black racism. Please share your reflections on, experiences with, and greatest lessons learned about systemic racism."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • The Office for Equity and Diversity (OED) offers an Equity and Diversity Certificate Program that “helps learners develop tools necessary for advancing equity and diversity in all aspects of their personal and professional lives.”
  • The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion hosts a number of foundational trainings on Implicit Bias, Microaggressions & Macroaggressions, and Micro Affirmations and Allyship.
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • A team from the medical school "set out to develop tools to promote productive conversations about racism. The team recently published their findings about their process of developing an anti-racism curriculum for first-year medical students at the University’s Medical School." According to the medical school, "The group used a methodology called Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) that helps researchers remain attentive to issues of equity in their work...In Phase I of the study, a group of seven women primarily from racial and ethnic minority groups and with experience in public health, health care, and community engagement developed small group exercises that focused on structural racism...In Phase II, five White (primarily male) colleagues joined them to discuss racism and race in light of their initial curriculum. Working over a year’s time (January 2016 – December 2016) and using PHCRP, this larger group developed an anti-racism curriculum. Even though they were all professionals dedicated to advancing conversations on racial equity, it was not an easy task to come to consensus. They found that, even among themselves, racialized and socialized roles easily dominated..."
  • According to the school, "A team of University of Minnesota researchers brought together a multiracial group of health professionals from across various fields to develop an anti-racism curriculum for first-year medical students at the University’s Medical School," using the "methodology called Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) that helps researchers remain attentive to issues of equity in their work."
  • City Journal reports, "The University of Minnesota School of Medicine collaborates on its curriculum with the Medical Education Reform Student Coalition (MERSC), an offshoot of the activist organization White Coats 4 Black Lives. "All these measures exist, at least in part, to help the medical schools meet their accreditation requirements."
Resources
  • The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion put together a reading list, which includes Ibram X. Kendi's "How To Be An Antiracist" and Robin DiAngelo's "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism."
Symbolic Actions
  • The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health committed "to continuing the necessary and challenging work of antiracism in our clinical care, our educational programs, our eight residency programs and our rotations in the University of Minnesota Medical School, and our departmental structures and policies and environment that impact faculty and staff."
  • The medical school has an Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
  • The University of Minnesota Medical School was part of the 2021 Cohort of the Anti-Racist Transformation in Medical Education.
  • The school posted an article titled "Addressing racism as a public health crisis: next steps" on its Facebook page.
  • The school tweeted, "Check out 'Advancing Health Equity During a Pandemic' from this week's 'Mini Medical School COVID-19: The Way Forward.'"
  • The school tweeted, "A new course, entitled “Foundations in Health Equity,” will let learners explore how health disparities have been accentuated by the #COVID19 pandemic."
  • The school tweeted, "The Dean's Fund for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion brought in nearly $12K during Give to the Max Day 2020! #DEI #GTMD20 #UMNProud"
  • University of Minnesota Medical School Faculty from the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health “came together to publish an article highlighting a comprehensive plan to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion across their programs.”
  • The University of Minnesota Medical School announced the MPact 2025 Health Care Innovation vision which “calls for the University to foster a welcoming community that values belonging, equity, diversity and dignity in people and ideas.”
  • On October 9, 2022, it was pointed out on Twitter that University of Minnesota medical students are all required to take an oath stating that the students "recognize inequities built by past and present traumas rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, the gender binary, ableism, and all forms of oppression." The oath also states that the students "commit to promoting a culture of anti-racism, listening, and amplifying voices for positive change."
  • The University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics had a recent “EDI Grand Round” on March 15, 2023 on the topic “Equity: The missing domain of healthcare, Do we really care that it is missing?”
  • The Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion hosts the Dean’s Lecture Series throughout the year. On April 12, 2023, a session was held on the topic “Keeping Progress in Our Sights: Opportunities to Improve DEI Efforts in Eye Banking.”
Last updated December 6th, 2023
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