The University of Miami Health System has deleted webpages on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as well as gender-affirming services, according to information from Consumers’ Research. This action occurs amid pressure from the Trump administration to reduce transgender medicine and DEI programs. However, the system continues to offer these services and maintain related policies.
The University of Miami Health System, part of the Miller School of Medicine, recently removed online references to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and gender-affirming care, as reported by Consumers’ Research and shared with The Daily Wire. This change coincides with the Trump administration's increased scrutiny of hospitals for prioritizing ideological programs over patient care.
Despite the deletions, UHealth persists in practices aligned with these initiatives. It maintains racial quotas for staff and medical school applicants and previously stated that “diversity is not just a goal, it’s essential to the business of health care.” The system partners with Miami Dade College to boost minority applicants through mentoring, MCAT preparation, and financial stipends, noting that diversity affects care delivery and patient outcomes.
Archived materials indicate the medical school hosted a “Task Force on Racial Justice” to increase Black faculty recruitment and support underrepresented minorities, alongside a “Culture Change” initiative for an affirming environment. Additionally, the university's GreenU program promotes sustainability measures like reducing carbon emissions and meat consumption.
On gender-affirming services, UHealth deleted a public page detailing procedures such as hormone treatments, surgical referrals, and voice modifications. Yet, the Rapid Wellness Clinic continues providing “personalized, holistic care” for transgender individuals, including feminizing and masculinizing hormones and surgical consultations, available to patients as young as 12. The clinic, led by Dr. Lydia Ann Fein, serves hundreds annually and coordinates with specialists in plastic surgery, urology, ear, nose, and throat, and speech pathology.
Fein told the Miami Herald that 30% of her patients are teens, attributing the rise to greater visibility of transgender identities: “I’m seeing a shift to younger patients” and “It’s more accepted.” She stressed connecting patients to mental health care and community support.
Advocates criticize such priorities in taxpayer-supported nonprofits. Consumers’ Research executive director Will Hild said, “Nonprofit hospitals receive massive taxpayer subsidies to care for the sick and keep us healthy, not to bankroll activist agendas,” as part of their Bad Medicine initiative. O. H. Skinner of the Alliance for Consumers added, “President Trump took swift action to protect children from harmful transgender ideology through executive orders to halt transgender interventions for kids,” emphasizing that taxpayer money should not subsidize such procedures.
UHealth has faced other challenges, including firing a physician for posting graphic patient photos and a Department of Health and Human Services plan to decertify its organ procurement organization due to unsafe practices. The University of Miami did not respond to comment requests.
