Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine

Regarding recruitment, the school's Diversity Policy states the following: "Women and people of color, however, remain under-represented both at BSOM [Boonshoft School of Medicine] and nationally. Our major emphasis is to advance women and African Americans in medicine and science, in order to advance BSOM itself."

On March 29, 2021, WSU News announced that an "anti-racism dialogue training" program used in the OB-GYN department of the medical school would "soon be expanded to include Boonshoft School of Medicine administration and eventually faculty, other medical residents and students."

On February 9, 2023, WSU news announced that Boonshoft SOM received a $750,000 grant to "continue and expand an antiracism and social justice training program." The program uses "intergroup dialogue, which has been widely used in community settings to increase trust, decrease stereotypes, establish common ground and increase perspective-taking."

As of 2020, the school's Department of Psychiatry faculty "leadership" and residents are participating in Boonshoft's "Dialogues Program to support a better understanding of our commonalities and differences, examine the nature and impact of societal inequalities, explore ways of working together toward greater equity and justice, and prepare individuals to live, work and lead in a complex, diverse society."

On February 10, 2023, the school's Wright State Physician Department published an article titled "Patient Care can Benefit from Social Justice Awareness Training" which states that in 2020, OB/GYN physician Keith Reisinger-Kindle, DO, began utilizing "formal training to facilitate antiracism/social justice trainings for OB/GYN resident physicians at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine (BSOM)." According to Dr. Reisenger-Kindle, “'Incorporating social justice into medicine involves providing physicians with the skills to examine the roles that bias, discrimination and oppression play in the lives of our patients and colleagues'." 

The Prematriculation Program at Boonshoft is a summer program for incoming medical students that gives "preference" to students who are "Members of groups underrepresented in medicine" in addition to several other factors. The program offers "in-person exposure to material seen early in the first year, critical thinking, study and testing strategies." (Link to Class of 2027 registration form included)

The school's OB-GYN Department is the "founding clinical site for Social Justice in Medicine," which is a "multi-center research collaborative whose mission is to identify and create solutions for race-based inequities" across the field of OB-GYN.

Regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion, the school states, "Our commitment to maintaining a culturally diverse student environment will be accomplished by designing and implementing innovative and effective strategies, systems, and standards to create and sustain a model educational setting that is measurably open, fair and inclusive for the all Boonshoft School of Medicine students."

On June 8, 2023, the school announced that its "dialogue training" application deadline is July 1, 2023 and that the "application process is open to all Dayton Children’s Hospital affiliated faculty, staff, and team members." Dialogue training is "an educational methodology that involves analyzing and learning about social identities, discrimination, oppression, social justice, allyhood, and advocacy."

The school's summer 2022 issue of its online publication "Vital Signs" features an article titled "Using mortality and morbidity conferences to help examine bias and improve health outcomes," which states the following: "Various sources have published findings highlighting significant disparity in health outcomes between white patients and patients of color. Maternal mortality and morbidity continue to occur at unacceptably high rates in the United States, and rates are significantly higher among communities of color."

The school's Diversity Policy states that the school would "Offer educational opportunities in diversity education to all groups" and "Partner with other units and organizations in the university and community to support a climate of inclusion, respect and learning related to diversity."