Dr. Princess Dennar, an administrator in the Tulane School of Medicine, sued Tulane University, alleging discrimination stemming from racism and sexism. Dennar was recently removed from her position as a program director in the School of Medicine. Dennar is the first Black woman to hold the role of medical director.
In her lawsuit, Dennar accused Dr. Jeffrey Wiese and Dr. Lee Hamm, senior vice president and dean of the School of Medicine, of racism towards her and to others who worked with her who are of minority backgrounds. Dennar stated that residents of a minority background were forced to complete a more difficult rotation schedule and were denied access to needed skills and training. When Dennar brought these and other concerns up to Wiese and Hamm, she recalled being threatened and retaliated against by them. The lawsuit also cites Wiese and Hamm’s actions to diminish Dennar’s leadership and authority such as relocating her program without consulting her and taking her off the MedHub online platform, thereby hindering her ability to perform.
Hamm has denied the accusations of racism that were made in Dennar’s lawsuit.
According to Mike Strecker, executive director of public relations, Dennar is still a clinical faculty member in the School of Medicine, but her role as director of the Meds Peds residency program has been suspended and is currently under review. The Meds Peds residency program was put under review by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the organization responsible for accrediting all graduate medical training programs for physicians in the U.S. The program was placed on a “warning status” which then triggered an automatic review of the program by the Graduate Medical Education Committee which, according to Strecker, is comprised of diverse Tulane faculty and medical residents from across the school and individuals from other institutions.
An Instagram account named @wokedoctors posted a photo of Dennar. They captioned it “In fear of losing white applicants, Tulane Medical School fired their first Black female Program Director #JusticeforDrDennar.” The post has been circulting on Instagram since it was posted three days ago.
“Tulane University is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive community and discrimination, in any form, has no place and is not tolerated,” Strecker told The Hullabaloo.
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