University of Washington School of Medicine

The school will be implementing, “Mandatory training on unconscious bias for all Admissions Committee members.”

The school’s leadership said, “We will establish more effective and required anti-racism training for members of our community and improve our support for professional development of a diverse leadership team.”

As part of "The Path to Health Justice," UW Medicine will engage in "Workforce Development," including "Foundational EDI Training" and "Define bias and racism."

As part of its plan for healthcare equity, UW Medicine has a “UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool.”

The ARAC also focuses on “Anti-Racist Education Training, within a year for the UWSOM deans to complete intensive anti-racism education training.”

UW Medicine’s Health Equity Blueprint recommends that the school “provide training to the workforce regarding implicit bias, diversity, cultural humility and respectful conversations.” The plans also recommends that the school “Assess existing training options for implicit bias, diversity, inclusion, cultural humility and respective conversations available to UW Medicine workforce members. Create an action plan to provide training to existing UW Medicine workforce and to insert training into new hire onboarding.”

As part of "The Path to Health Justice," UW Medicine will implement "EDI training for search committees" and "EDI training for HR teams."

The school’s Center for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (CEDI) aims to “build individual and institutional capacity to achieve excellence, foster innovation, and further health equity in our state and region by advancing diversity and inclusiveness throughout the School of Medicine’s teaching, patient care and research programs. CEDI’s programs and collaborations are aligned to further its goal of promoting diversity and inclusiveness throughout the School of Medicine including the WWAMI region.”

As part of "The Path to Health Justice," UW Medicine will "Conduct health equity original research" and "Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in UW Medicine research endeavors."

The School has an Anti-Racism Action Committee (ARAC), which focuses on several concerns, such as “Acknowledgement of institutional racism at the UWSOM” and a “Race, Equity and Justice Initiative at UWSOM grounded in transparency and accountability and creating a culture at UWSOM that acknowledges the histories and experiences of people of color, teaches about health inequalities and social determinants of health, and enables marginalized people to thrive at the UWSOM framed in a model of Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations.” The ARAC is focused on the “Coalition for an Anti-Racist UWSOM, work with interested students, faculty, staff and community members to build an inclusive community to add to and improve upon the list of demands developed by the Students for an Anti-Racist UWSOM (SARU) and take active steps to creating an anti-racist medical institution.”

The Department of Medicine’s page on “Health care equity and anti-racism,” links to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) resources from UW Human Resources, the Center for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, “Race & Equity at the UW,” and the UW Medicine Healthcare Equity page.

UW Medicine has a “Healthcare Equity Toolkit” that is “designed to be a resource to support and guide UW Medicine leaders and staff in our effort to embrace diversity, foster inclusion and advance equity for our patients and workforce.” The toolkit includes: “Leaders Guide for Convening & Running an Effective Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee,” a “Healthcare Equity Glossary of Terms – Critical Terms for Common Language,” and “Equity Diversity and Inclusion Resources.”

The school’s Center for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion offers a “Search Committee Toolkit,” which includes “Bias in Hiring” resources.

The Department of Bioethics and Humanities offered “Anti-Racism & Equity, Diversity and Inclusion,” which included Ibram X. Kendi’s “Stamped from the Beginning” and Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility.”

In March 2021, there was a “professional-development seminar at the University of Washington School of Medicine that discussed white supremacy culture,” according to City Journal.

The school has an "Anti-Racism Coalition (ARC) at the UWSOM," which focuses on "dismantling systemic racism and inequities within the UWSOM." The organization "shall exist to dismantle systemic institutional racism and inequities at the UWSOM by Amplifying, organizing, and facilitating antiracist practices at every stage of our medical education; Advocating for antiracist perspectives through various administrative channels; Creating a support network for student activists; Providing a sustainable framework for future students to continue moving UWSOM towards justice and equity."

The school has an "Equity Impact Review Tool," which "uses quantitative and qualitative data to inform planning, decision-making and implementation of UW Medicine tailored healthcare delivery, consistent with the Healthcare Equity Blueprint."

On July 5, 2023, the school announced that Erik D. Malmberg, PH.D was named to the "new position of Assistant Dean for Equity & Medical Student Engagement for the University of Washington School of Medicine." Dr. Malmberg has "trained extensively on the practical application of JEDI [Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion] in academic medicine, including implementing the AAMC [Association of American Medical Colleges] Holistic Review Framework for Recruitment and Selection and AAMC Foundational Principles of Inclusion Excellence, National Research Mentoring Network’s Culturally Aware Mentorship Training, and Academy for Holistic Reimagining of the Recruitment, Mentoring and Retention of Racially Minoritized Faculty."

The school has the “UW Medicine Office of Healthcare Equity.”

The school tweeted, "Today, we commit to identifying UW Medicine policies that perpetuate structural racism. We will begin to dismantle and replace them as we strive to become a truly anti-racist organization. #BlackLivesMatter"

The school tweeted, "'Racism is a social determinant of health... So I wouldn't weigh these crises separately.' "Infectious disease experts at UW Medicine and @UW wrote why protesting during a pandemic is necessary. @NPR #COVID19"

The school tweeted, "'Racism is the biggest public health crisis of our time,' Healthcare workers come together to fight twin pandemics."

The school posted on Instagram, "We recognize that change starts within each of us. ⁣ ⁣ "Today, we commit to identifying policies within UW Medicine that perpetuate structural racism. We will begin to dismantle and replace them as we strive to become a truly anti-racist organization. #BlackLivesMatter."

The school posted on Instagram, "We must hold our community, workplace, friends and, most importantly, ourselves accountable to create a better world.⁣ ⁣ "UW Medicine is committed to identifying policies within our organization that perpetuate structural racism. We will begin to dismantle and replace them as we strive to become a truly anti-racist organization. #BlackLivesMatter."

The school posted on Instagram, "While the outcome of the trial was an important moment within the legal process, it occurred despite Derek Chauvin’s defense invoking a host of anti-Black biases that remain forces of inequity in both criminal justice and medical systems such as ours. The defense attempted to stigmatize George Floyd due to pre-existing medical conditions that we know are actually brought about by environmental and social health determinants — that is, Racism. The defense attempted to dehumanize and stereotype him. They tried to normalize not believing and expressing indifference to his pain, cries for help and medical distress. These are experiences that Black patients suffer, in different forms, all too regularly here at UW Medicine.⁣ ⁣ "During the past year, we have established the UW Medicine Office of Healthcare Equity to guide and accelerate our work to become an anti-racist organization, and one that seeks health justice for all members of marginalized communities across the spectrum of identities."

The school posted on Instagram, "Verified If the past two years have made anything clear, it’s that Black Americans still face inequities, barriers and brutalities in this country on the daily. But these years have also shown that Black history in this country is rich and complex, full of highs and lows and worth honoring — knowledge that all of us, regardless of race, must come to recognize if we truly want to practice anti-racism.⁠ ⁠ "We need Black History Month more than ever. But it’s important to recognize the contributions and legacies of Black Americans — and their current successes and future goals — on a regular basis, rather than just in the month of February.⁠ ⁠ "In honor of this month and the year-round contributions of Black employees at UW Medicine, we asked Black community members across our health system what Black history and culture mean to them and how non-Black people in our organization can be better allies."

The school posted on Facebook, "At UW Medicine, we are committed to becoming an anti-racist organization that seeks health justice for all members of marginalized communities across the spectrum of identities."

The school posted on Facebook, "We recognize that change starts within each of us. "Today, we commit to identifying policies within UW Medicine that perpetuate structural racism. We will begin to dismantle and replace them as we strive to become a truly anti-racist organization. #BlackLivesMatter"

The school posted on Facebook, "If the past two years have made anything clear, it’s that Black Americans still face inequities, barriers and brutalities in this country on the daily. But these years have also shown that Black history in this country is rich and complex, full of highs and lows and worth honoring — knowledge that all of us, regardless of race, must come to recognize if we truly want to practice anti-racism. "We need Black History Month more than ever. But it’s important to recognize the contributions and legacies of Black Americans — and their current successes and future goals — on a regular basis, rather than just in the month of February. "In honor of this month and the year-round contributions of Black employees at UW Medicine, we asked Black community members across our health system what Black history and culture mean to them and how non-Black people in our organization can be better allies."

The school posted on Facebook, "'Racism is the biggest public health crisis of our time,' Healthcare workers come together to fight twin pandemics. The Seattle Times"

The school posted on Facebook, "We believe healthcare is a fundamental human right. Today and every day, we're thinking about how we can fight the inequities that impact how people experience medical care. "To help, we created a healthcare equity blueprint."

The school's Healthcare Equity Blueprint aims to "Increase diversity, increase cultural humility and reduce implicit bias in the healthcare workforce."

The school said that it understands "that diversity, equity and inclusion should be in every aspect of teaching and care."

School officials announced that beginning in 2024, the school would "no longer participate in the medical school rankings by U.S. News & World Report." Officials stated that the ranking "does not align with our goals of creating an inclusive learning environment and developing a diverse and culturally humble workforce" and that "the emphasis on prestige and reputation without any objective evaluation of the quality of education is discordant with our vision for the future of medicine."