Decline in Medical Education Is Directly Connected to DEI

 President Trump’s crusade against DEI has brought to light another crisis: the dramatic decline of medical education. For years, medical schools have emphasized discrimination and indoctrination at the expense of merit and excellence, to the detriment of patients. While the Trump administration has taken steps to right this wrong, a more far-reaching response is needed. For the sake of every American’s health, the president should reform the accreditation system for medical schools.

The crisis in medical education is directly connected to DEI. For years, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredits M.D.-granting programs, required medical schools to establish programs “aimed at achieving diversity.”

Medical schools responded by embracing diversity in hiring and admissions. They changed their curricula to teach economic and social lessons that ladder up to the false claim that America is systemically racist. The LCME has tacitly approved this shift by issuing vague standards that give medical schools far too much leeway. The resulting lack of rigor allows unprepared students to slide through undemanding courses while undercutting the preparation needed to become excellent doctors.

The traditional two years of pre-clinical education required to become a doctor has been significantly reduced at more than a third of medical schools. This gives short shrift to the foundational curriculum in genetics, biochemistry, biostatistics and epidemiology. A senior associate dean at Rutgers told the American Medical Association in 2021, “It’s better, to me, to shorten the foundational science curriculum.” That leaves students with a diminished ability to understand medical literature and make health recommendations.

At 80% of M.D.-granting schools, the foundational courses in basic science and clinical skills are now graded pass/fail, discouraging the pursuit of excellence. The first part of the national licensure exam that determined residency placement has also been changed to pass/fail, further blurring the distinction between mediocre and excellent. Unsurprisingly, a growing number of medical students lack a strong grasp of basic medical knowledge.

At UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, according to reporting based on interviews with faculty members, more than 50% of students failed basic tests on family medicine, pediatrics and emergency medicine. Nationwide, the percentage of medical students who pass the first part of the licensure exam has fallen every year since 2020, dropping from 97% to 89% for students pursuing an M.D. Clinical skills have declined for years, made worse by DEI’s distraction from clinical education.

Even liberal medical journals have begun to question the state of medical education. A 2025 New England Journal of Medicine article on the use of pass/fail in medical school asked, “Is ‘Good Enough’ Good Enough?” Yet the expert class still refuses to identify the ideological corruption of medical education.

Mr. Trump recognizes the problem. In April he signed an executive order that called out the LCME by name. The committee responded by formally abandoning its diversity mandate.

Unfortunately, the LCME has kept a separate mandate that medical schools teach students to “recognize and appropriately address biases in themselves, in others, and in the health care delivery process.” The committee is sponsored by the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges, both of which continue to champion DEI. Almost every medical school still promotes that ideology to the detriment of real medical expertise.

Mr. Trump’s executive order directed the Education Department to consider revoking recognition of accreditors with DEI requirements, which could be used against the LCME. But the committee would still have leverage, since no future medical-school graduates could practice medicine without having gone to an accredited school. So instead, or in addition, the Trump administration should foster establishing an alternative accreditor—one that’s free from ideological control and committed to stronger educational standards.

A new accreditor can’t be created out of thin air, but the Education Department can solicit applications. Once a strong application comes through, due diligence could be performed and a new accreditor recognized.

States would have to recognize the new accreditor and instruct their medical licensing boards to recognize degrees from schools that use it. The medical licensing exam and graduate medical education programs would also have to acknowledge the new accreditor. Otherwise, graduates of medical schools using a new accreditor wouldn’t be able to practice medicine except in limited circumstances. Federal and state authorities would have to exert pressure to secure these reforms.

The road forward is complicated but worth taking. Last year, Florida and five other states established the Commission for Public Higher Education to accredit their public university systems. It could add a medical school accreditation component. Florida’s public medical schools are the best candidates for ditching the LCME. They’ve largely rejected DEI and embraced merit. That’s exactly what a new accreditor should do—for the benefit of physicians, patients and public health.

Ultimately, this is about ensuring Americans have the best physicians providing the best care. DEI has distracted medical schools from their purpose, and while it’s vital to cure the ideological disease, it’s just as important to refocus medical education on its lifesaving mission.

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb is chairman of Do No Harm and a former associate dean at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/dei-is-a-threat-to-americans-health-97b25a64