The University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine commissioned students to write the curriculum for the department’s required courses on “Structural Racism and Health Equity” (SRHE).
A document released in June 2023 and leaked to the medical and policy advocacy group Do No Harm reveals that UCLA’s medical school wanted to recruit first- and second-year medical students to develop a curriculum that would incorporate liberal ideas such as critical race theory.
(RELATED: UCSF offers ‘Racism in Science’ course to examine how science ‘perpetuates anti-Black racism’)
The SRHE curriculum “emphasizes critical race theory, queer theory,” and “the ideology of diversity, equity, and inclusion.” The university’s SRHE course guide states directly, “The first section of the year focuses on…how structural determinants of health, such as race, shape our current health care system.”
The document states that applicants must submit a letter of support from a colleague outlining their commitment to anti-racism work.
Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb told the Washington Examiner that UCLA’s plan to recruit students to “develop curricula for the training of other medical students is a terrible idea.”
(RELATED: UCSF’s anti-racism initiative seeks to combat ‘white fragility’ and build an ‘inclusive and diverse’ library)
He argued that freshmen would not be suitable mentors because most of them had never even treated a patient.
Campus reform has reached out to the University of California, Los Angeles, for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
