Multiple political commentators and influential figures expressed concern after Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro revealed his findings on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at work in medicine.
In a thread posted to X on Monday, Shapiro dove into how some medical schools and doctors have pushed DEI in an effort to recruit more minority surgeons and stop hiring so many “walls of white men,” especially after the death of George Floyd and the ensuing riots in the summer of 2020. The Daily Wire editor emeritus said that his findings even show how some “top hospitals are abandoning key metrics when hiring surgeons.”
“It’s bad enough when teachers or government bureaucrats talk like this, but valuing intersectionality over merit can literally mean life or death in surgery,” Shapiro said.
The thread has been viewed over three million times and was quickly reposted by over a thousand people, including billionaire Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, conservative broadcaster and news analyst Mark Levin, and former ESPN anchor Sage Steele.
“DEI puts the lives of your loved ones at risk,” said Musk.
DEI puts the lives of your loved ones at risk https://t.co/dV6l3MCOPd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2024
Steele — who sued ESPN alleging the network retaliated against her for making negative comments about the COVID vaccine — added, “The last sentence in the final tweet of this must-read thread should scare all of us: ‘Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US’ … yet these universities & hospitals are more concerned about DEI than hiring the most qualified person for the job??!!”
“MUST READ — the destruction of our medical system by the Democrat bigots and racists is underway,” Levin wrote.
Dave Rubin said he wasn’t surprised by the revelations in Shapiro’s thread, even though it should shock people.
“I’d say this thread is insane, but it’s actually obvious,” he wrote. “DEI will lead many people to DIE. Some intentionally …”
Shapiro began his thread by discussing Kychelle Del Rosario, a Wake Forest medical student who is getting ready to graduate from the school and potentially start a career in the medical field. Del Rosario made headlines in 2022 after she injured a patient who laughed at her “She/Her” pronoun pin. The Wake Forest medical student posted about her actions on social media, seemingly joking about missing the vein of the patient who made fun of her pin.
Del Rosario was defended by fellow Wake Forest medical student Ewen Liu who said the jab was an accident, but it “seemed ‘karma-tic.’” Shapiro said that he has learned Liu was recently hired by UPenn Health where she focuses on “substance use disorder, LGBTQ+ health, community medicine.”
“Both UPenn and Liu’s medical school, Wake Forest, have attempted to hide Liu’s hiring,” Shapiro wrote. “Wake Forest didn’t list Liu’s hospital in graduation materials, and UPenn doesn’t list Liu’s medical school on its website.”
Later in the thread, Shapiro shows video of award-winning Duke surgical resident Vignesh Raman discussing his goal to reduce the number of white men in surgery after the events surrounding George Floyd’s death “collectively galvanized the consciousness of Duke University and certainly our department to try to do something, and recognizing there’s like centuries-long history of racism and slavery in which Duke University essentially was founded [on].”
6/ Raman adds that post-George Floyd, Duke made a concerted effort to stop hiring so many “walls of white men.” He says the team is now "abandoning … all sort[s] of metrics" and adopting a "completely holistic" application practice in order to recruit more women and non-white… pic.twitter.com/Jxo93giLoQ
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 26, 2024
Raman goes on to say that he and his team are “abandoning … all sort[s] of metrics” and adopting “completely holistic” application practices so Duke can bring on more women and “non-white” surgeons, Shapiro said.
“Raman also tweeted that he won’t ‘amplify’ medical literature involving only white men – because it’s not as if white men have ever advanced medicine or anything,” Shapiro added. “Vignesh Raman is just one example of a much larger trend. The American College of Surgeons, or ACS, recently gave its 88,000 members a definition of ‘racism’ that implies it’s impossible to be racist against white people.”
8/ Vignesh Raman is just one example of a much larger trend. The American College of Surgeons, or ACS, recently gave its 88,000 members a definition of “racism” that implies it’s impossible to be racist against white people. pic.twitter.com/sKOM3UvNEV
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 26, 2024
Shapiro also pointed out how the ACS invited speaker Madeline B. Torres to a 2021 conference where she said, “[W]hen patients see physicians who look like them, they tend to do better.” Torres also said that surgeons are receiving grants and awards based on their minority status.
At another 2021 DEI conference, this one at UPenn, a surgeon said it is “off putting” to see so many white men as surgeons.
“The doctors also state that surgery needs something like the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires that teams interview minority candidates,” Shapiro wrote. “But the doctors say surgery needs an expanded version that goes further and ensures that minority candidates are selected.”
10/ This is now the prevailing view in surgical medicine. At a recent conference on DEI at UPenn, where Ewen Liu now works, one surgeon says that it's "off putting" that so many surgeons are white men. pic.twitter.com/S1wIdWLfmF
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 26, 2024