The LCME disagrees with you
Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) Standards on Diversity
MS-8: Each medical school must develop programs or partnerships aimed at broadening diversity among qualified applicants for medical school admission.
Annotation: Because graduates of U.S. and Canadian medical schools may practice anywhere in their respective countries, it is expected that schools recognize their collective responsibility for contributing to the diversity of the profession as a whole. To that end, schools should work within their own universities and and/or collaborate with other institutions to make admission to medical education programs more accessible to potential applicants of diverse backgrounds. Schools can accomplish that aim through a variety of approaches, including, but not limited to, the development and institutionalization of pipeline programs, collaborations with institutions that serve students from disadvantaged backgrounds, community service activities that heighten awareness of and interest in the profession, or academic enrichment programs for applicants who may not have taken traditional pre-medical coursework.
IS-16: Each medical school must have policies and practices to achieve appropriate diversity among its students, faculty, staff, and other members of its academic community, and must engage in ongoing, systematic, and focused efforts to attract and retain students, faculty, staff, and others from demographically diverse backgrounds.
New Annotation: The LCME and CACMS believe that aspiring future physicians will be best prepared for medical practice in a diverse society if they learn in an environment characterized by, and supportive of, diversity and inclusion. Such an environment will facilitate physician training in:
• Basic principles of culturally competent health care
• Recognition of health care disparities and the development of solutions
to such burdens
• The importance of meeting the health care needs of medically
underserved populations
• The development of core professional attributes, such as altruism and
social accountability, needed to provide effective care in a multidimensionally diverse society
Each school should articulate its expectations regarding diversity across its academic community in the context of local and national responsibilities, and regularly assess how well such expectations are being achieved. Schools could include the following elements of diversity in their planning, but not limited to: gender, racial, cultural and economic. Schools should establish focused, significant, and sustained programs to recruit and retain suitably diverse students, faculty members, staff, and others.