“Controversial medical course at Washington University raises concerns about curriculum content.”
The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, offered a summer course called “Health Equity and Justice,” which has raised concerns from a medical and political advocacy group, as reported by Fox News Digital. This course includes a controversial “Care of Transgender Patients” curriculum that advocates for a progressive gender agenda, according to PowerPoint presentation slides obtained by Fox News Digital. One slide encourages students to advocate for cross-sex hormones in August, despite acknowledging the lack of evidence regarding their neural impact and admitting uncertainty about their effect on neural circuitry.
Another slide within the “health equity” discussion suggests that nutrition is influenced by racism. This slide features a TikTok video explaining that Dr. Lionel Bradley Pett, a white doctor, determined daily caloric needs by conducting experiments on native children. The video concludes by emphasizing the historical significance of these experiments in indigenous history. Subsequent slides argue that BMI (Body Mass Index) should be viewed as a “badly mistaken idea” because current BMIs are based on an idealized Caucasian standard and do not consider a person’s gender or ethnicity.
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm, expressed concerns to Fox News Digital, stating that the curriculum appears to promote divisive and political ideologies among students. He also highlighted concerns about the promotion of puberty blockers in children, which is now in opposition to Missouri law.
In a statement from September, the university’s controversial transgender center announced that it would no longer prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors for gender transition purposes due to new Missouri state law. Goldfarb cautioned that medical schools are allocating more time to social and political issues, potentially at the expense of medical education.
Notably, a lecturer at Washington University’s medical school was recorded last year warning students, as part of the “Health Equity & Justice” curriculum, that she would swiftly shut down any debate on critical race theory and systemic oppression.
