The House Education and Workforce Committee held a July 14 hearing, “Training Activists, Not Physicians: The Impact of DEI on Medical Schools,” which focused on the majority’s investigations into three medical schools.
Witnesses included leaders from three AAMC-member institutions: Steve Dubinett (PDF), MD, dean of the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine; Sam Hawgood (PDF), MBBS, chancellor of the University of California San Francisco; and Enrico Benedetti (PDF), MD, Interim G. Stephen Irwin Executive Dean at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., MD, president of the National Medical Association, was also a witness during the hearing.
The hearing followed August 2025 oversight letters sent to the above medical schools from House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). In those letters, Walberg mentioned accusations of antisemitic conduct and harassment at these institutions, and further reiterated the medical schools’ legal responsibility to combat discrimination on campus. The committee’s oversight hearing focused on the universities’ responses to assertions of inappropriate accreditation standards, medical school curriculum, social justice and advocacy in medical care, campuswide initiatives to advance racial equity, and alleged incidents of antisemitism on the three campuses. Committee Democrats focused their questions on health equity, the importance of addressing workforce shortages, and the importance of cultural competence in health care.
- Washington Highlights