Understanding the effects of Anti-DEI legislation and climate on medical education, research, and health outcomes across the United States

Monday, April 28, 2025

11:00am – 12:30pm HST

Location: Convention Center: 311

CE: CME: 1.5
Ethics CME: 1.5

Selected By: APA

Chair(s)

Alvaro Tori, MD (he/him/his)

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana, United States

Disclosure(s):

Alvaro Tori, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Since 2022, the academic community has seen a spate of anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) legislation proposed at the state level targeting public institutions. These laws thus affect higher public education including schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health sciences. To date, fourteen anti-DEI bills have been signed into law across 12 states, amidst a backdrop of 83 bills proposed across 26 states within the past two years. These bills target institutional DEI offices, hiring and promotion processes, diversity statements, and educational curricula. Collectively, these state policy actions along with the 2023 federal Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action has chilled what had been an open and evolving conversation in medicine about access, opportunity, and well-being for students, trainees, and physicians. The laws, whether proposed or passed, have already impacted climate at the institutional and national levels and are thus affecting health service delivery and health equity outcomes across the country. The onslaught of legislation and subsequent rapid compliance requirements have also precluded efforts to estimate the impact, harm, and loss from these legislative policies and their effect on medicine.

In a setting of abrupt change and challenge, this panel explores the effect of anti-DEI state legislative policies on medical education, research, and clinical service across the United States, but specifically in Texas, Florida, Utah, and Missouri as well as strategies for healing and continued growth.

Learning Objectives:

Contextualize the wave of anti-DEI state legislation and it’s impact on higher medical education, research, and service particularly in public institutions.
Compare and contrast how the impact of anti-DEI legislation, both passed and proposed, can differ from institution to institution.
Envision potential strategies for protecting scholarship, education, and service missions threatened by anti-DEI legislation.

Presentations:

11:00am – 11:10am HST

Introduction and Framework
Speaker: Alvaro Tori, MD (he/him/his) – Indiana University School of Medicine
11:10am – 11:25am HST

The Assault on Equitable Care: Moving Forward Despite Institutional and Professional Losses Within the Intermountain West
Speaker: Quang-Tuyen Nguyen, MD (she/her/hers) – University of Utah - Salt Lake City, UT
11:25am – 11:40am HST

When Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives Are Challenged, but No Legislation Exists
Speaker: Tyler K. Smith, MD, MPH (she/her/hers) – Children's Mercy Kansas City and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
11:40am – 11:55am HST

Tackling the Headwinds: advancing the mission despite anti-DEI laws
Speaker: Susan L. Gillespie, MD, PhD (she/her/hers) – Baylor College of Medicine
11:55am – 12:30pm HST

Q & A