DEI in UVA Health Runs Deep

Mitchell Rosner admits DEI efforts are not going away, confirms gender-affirming care remains in place, and quietly drops a “very problematic” values statement from promotion and tenure reviews.

Dr. Mitchell Rosner, UVA’s Acting Executive Vice President for Health Affairs emphasized that DEI efforts are deeply embedded in the UVA Health system and will continue, albeit with caution. He made clear that “none of our values have changed” and that the system is aiming to stay “in compliance” with university and legal requirements while maintaining its DEI commitments. He credited Dr. Tracy Downs for leading the Medical Center’s DEI office and said they are meeting “pretty much every day on this topic.”

While acknowledging the impact of new legal and political scrutiny, Rosner made UVA Health’s priorities clear:

“We don’t intend really to back away from any of those programs.”

He explained the added layer of complexity that healthcare brings to DEI work, especially in striving for equal health outcomes:

“Everybody in the health system is passionate to ensure that health outcomes in our community are equalized and everybody has access to healthcare.”

On transgender care and gender-affirming surgeries, Rosner said:

“So far, all stays in place... our feeling right now is we’ll be compliant with the law.”

He closed by acknowledging the ongoing challenge:

“It cascades down at the health system to so many levels that it’s gonna be complex.”

Despite UVA Health being embroiled in numerous scandals—several tied directly to its DEI practices—Mitchell Rosner acknowledged only one misstep. He admitted that a “particular value statement” tied to the health system’s DEI mission had been embedded into promotion and tenure reviews, a practice that raises serious red flags about ideological discrimination.

“We have an issue around a particular value statement... that was included, for example, in promotion and tenure reviews.”

“We’re removing that because it was very problematic.”

Rosner offered no explanation of what the statement said, how long it had been in use, or how many careers it may have influenced. But his admission confirms that professional advancement at UVA Health was, at least in part, tied to ideological conformity.

Beyond this quiet course correction, Rosner made clear that “none of our values have changed” and that DEI programs are “not going away.”

In short: the structure remains intact. The messaging may shift—but the ideology stays.