Too often in recent years, we’ve seen medical schools and medical associations prioritize divisive ideology and racial discrimination in admissions, hiring, and recruiting at the expense of merit, excellence, and fairness.

Such practices degrade the quality of medical education and deny opportunities to deserving students.

Presently, Idaho is partnered with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) through the WWAMI program, which stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. This program helps educate Idaho’s future physicians.

It’s essential that programs like these supporting Idaho doctors and patients are free from harmful ideological influence.

That’s why Do No Harm Action is supporting a resolution by Idaho lawmakers aimed at ensuring the WWAMI program complies with Idaho law.

This resolution recognizes the crucial role WWAMI plays in training Idaho’s future physicians while also protecting the program from the harms of DEI and gender ideology.

The unfortunate reality is that UWSOM has promoted and engaged in divisive, discriminatory practices, often under the guise of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

For example, UWSOM previously limited access to a physician networking directory to students and physicians who were “black, indigenous and people of color,” opening the program to all only after a Do No Harm lawsuit.

UWSOM’s admissions process also previously asked prospective students how they would contribute to a “diverse” student body, with the question removed late last year over concerns that it would be interpreted as a proxy for considering race in admissions.

The resolution also recognizes the harmful influence of gender ideology on medicine that leads to interventions and procedures unsupported by credible scientific evidence.

In short, racially exclusionary policies and ideological litmus tests have no place in medical education.

Idaho’s students should be assessed based on their academic achievement, their clinical acumen, integrity, and their potential as future physicians, rather than their race or their commitment to ideology.

And Idaho patients deserve physicians trained in programs that prioritize excellence rather than subordinating merit to a political agenda.

Ensuring that WWAMI adheres to these fundamental ethical principles is essential to promote excellence in medical education and clinical practice.