New medical policy center launches apolitical ranking of medical schools

A medical policy organization, Do No Harm, announced the launch of the Center for Accountability in Medicine on Wednesday, signaling a move to strip politics from American medicine and to publish an apolitical, evidence-based assessment of U.S. medical schools and, later, hospitals. The center unveiled its Medical School Excellence Index, which evaluates MD‑granting institutions across three pillars—academic excellence, transparency and rejection of DEI—and will publish inaugural rankings excluding Puerto Rico. The University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine earned a perfect score of 100.

Per the index results, the rest of the top five schools are New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, the University of Michigan Medical School, and the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Ian Kingsbury, the center’s director, told Fox News Digital that its Medical School Excellence Index rankings are urgently needed to combat the tide of wokeness in healthcare and to eliminate DEI's divisive influence in medicine. Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Do No Harm’s founder, said the center will seek to expose medical schools with racially based admissions practices and accreditors’ DEI mandates on those schools, arguing the effort will help ensure patients, not politics, remain the top priority in medical training.

Under the index’s three pillars, institutions earn points across academic excellence, transparency and rejection of DEI. A school earns 25 out of 100 points if it does not take DEI into account, while earning zero points and facing an overall disadvantage if DEI is incorporated into its own academic calculus. The academic-excellence component weighs mean undergraduate GPAs and places schools with top-quintile GPAs in the highest tier, up to 30 points. Transparency is graded on the clarity of grading rubrics; zero points are awarded for pass/fail models, while 10 points go to schools that adopt multi-tier honors or similar transparent structures. The center notes that Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society status can contribute a small number of points. Additionally, the index allows for a handful of points if a school maintains an active Alpha Omega Alpha chapter.

The organization says the ranking methodology reflects a belief that historically DEI-based admissions and accreditation criteria have eroded the tradition of openly distinguishing student performance. It also notes that some proponents of DEI argue the policies enhance cultural competence and address health disparities, while the center contends that such measures can crowd out merit and create divisions within medical education. The center adds that its framework is designed to highlight excellence and accountability rather than promote ideology. California, New Mexico, Oregon and Michigan are singled out in its release as having several lower-ranked institutions in this inaugural sweep.

Do No Harm has framed its work as part of a broader effort to realign medical training with merit and clinical excellence. Goldfarb said the center’s work builds on the organization’s past activity pursuing suits against institutions over programs it says discriminate against any group and its ongoing role as an accreditor watchdog. The center’s leadership says the Center for Accountability in Medicine will expand that work to ensure medical institutions prioritize patient welfare and rigorous standards over ideological agendas. Kingsbury told Fox News Digital that the center will continue and broaden its accountability efforts to ensure the nation’s medical schools and, eventually, hospitals prioritize merit and expertise.

The new center’s leadership argues that the rankings will offer a metric that complements traditional measures of medical school quality by removing political considerations that they say have intruded into admissions, curricula and accreditation. They acknowledge that the medical field is deeply personal and complex, but they argue that objective, apolitical data can help patients and trainees identify institutions that emphasize demonstrable outcomes and rigorous training. The initiative is described as a major step in renewing trust in medical education and ensuring that clinical care remains the primary focus of institutions training future physicians.

While some observers question the feasibility and potential consequences of a politicized ranking, Do No Harm maintains that bringing greater transparency to the admissions and credentialing process—while excluding political criteria—will advance patient care by ensuring that merit, achievement and accountability guide the profession. The center notes that its methodology will continue to evolve as new data become available and will reflect ongoing conversations about how best to measure excellence in medical education.

The Medical School Excellence Index is expected to be updated periodically, with the center promising to publish its methodology and findings publicly. The organization says its work does not seek to diminish the value of diversity of thought or experience but to ensure that medical training remains grounded in demonstrable performance and clinical readiness. As the health landscape evolves, Do No Harm says its center will serve as a watchdog to keep institutions accountable to the core aim of medicine: helping patients.