Tulane medical school placed on probation over racism allegations

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Tulane University’s medical school was placed on probation last week by a national accreditation board over allegations of racism and discrimination within its graduate program.

According to The Lens, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) informed the Dean of Schools, Lee Hamm, of the decision on July 2. In a response to ACGME, Hamm said that given privacy concerns, we are limited in the information we can share about the ACGME decision, but added that two of the main areas of concern were monitoring our [graduate medical education] programs and improving our learning and working environments, including improving equity, diversity and inclusion.

ACGME began visiting the school last spring following the suspension of Dr Princess Dennar, a black woman who was director of the school’s internal medicine-pediatrics residency.

From the objective:

She accused the School of Medicine of retaliating against her for a federal lawsuit she filed in October 2020, which alleged racial and gender discrimination against her and her residents. Dennar said his program was disproportionately made up of women of color.

The university has denied the allegations, saying it was suspended due to an exam triggered by an ACGME warning. Dennar disputed this claim in a letter to Tulane President Michael Fitts, arguing that other programs had also received warning statuses, but the review policy was programmed specifically to target it. The ACGME exam in question is private.

Following calls from alumni, students and faculty for more transparency in the suspension and, in some cases, removal of Hamm as dean. Hamm offered to reinstate Dennar, provided she receives executive coaching, additional administrative support and [sic] monitoring and guidance.

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Dennar declined the offer, saying the extra supervision was just an effort to deflect blame from the school administration. Dennar issued a statement regarding the ACGME decision.

While I deeply sympathize with the students, residents, fellows and many of my colleagues who may be unfairly affected by Tulanes’ probation status and continue to offer them my support, I believe the action of the ‘ACGME is a positive step in addressing concerns raised by myself and others about racism, sexism and retaliation at Tulane University, its statement read.

John Combes, the public policy officer for ACGME, told Lens that probation is one of many actions the board can take against a school. The first step is a warning telling the school what to correct. Then there’s the probationary accreditation, which is much more serious, Combes told Lens. Probation prevents a school from creating, expanding and applying for new programs. It’s really a first warning that they risk losing their accreditation if they don’t correct it by the next review cycle, Combes added.

Hamm wrote in his July 2 email that the school has already come up with a plan to address concerns that have led to probation. He said a working group will be formed to deal with reports of abuse and unprofessionalism of any kind. Hamm added that the school will start working to reduce residents’ clinical workloads, as one of the main concerns raised by discrimination complaints was uneven workloads.

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