Do No Harm: Inside the Fight to Get Identity Politics Out of Medicine

Episode SummaryDr. Stanley Goldfarb — nephrologist, former Associate Dean for Curriculum at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, and founder of Do No Harm — joins Drs. Koka and DiGiorgio to trace how medical education drifted from clinical science toward social activism. Goldfarb recounts the battles at Penn that led to his 2019 WSJ op-ed, the professional fallout that followed, and why he built Do No Harm into a 54,000-member organization with an active litigation strategy. The conversation covers DEI in admissions, implicit bias training, gender-affirming care in minors, nonprofit hospital tax exemption, and what it actually takes to change entrenched institutions through legislation and the courts.Chapter Markers00:00 Introduction — Dr. Stanley Goldfarb01:37 The 2019 Wall Street Journal op-ed12:57 The tweet that ended his relationship with Penn and UpToDate17:04 What 550 FOIA requests revealed about who's driving DEI in academia21:01 Is there a case for modernizing the medical curriculum?27:29 How students gained control of the agenda32:10 How admissions committees began selecting for activists36:34 The two missions of Do No Harm47:18 Nonprofit hospital tax exemption and ideological spending53:44 The constitutional framework1:07:19 Do demographic quotas ever make sense?1:09:31 Closing — how to get involved with Do No HarmResourcesBooksDoing Great Harm (2025) — Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Great-Harm-Infecting-Healthcare_and/dp/B0FD3ZP9WNTake Two Aspirin and Call Me By My Pronouns (2022) — Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Take+Two+Aspirin+Call+Me+By+My+Pronouns+GoldfarbArticles & Op-Eds2019 WSJ op-ed: https://www.wsj.com/articles/take-two-aspirin-and-call-me-by-my-pronouns-11568325291City Journal archive: https://www.city-journal.org/person/stanley-goldfarbDo No Harm: https://donoharmmedicine.orgFollow Dr. GoldfarbX: https://x.com/donoharm?lang=enCo-Host Handles@anish_koka and @drdigiorgioShow Handle@drsloungepodSubscribe LinksSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/44vw8eirsKKnjgNIrdDvrRApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-doctors-lounge/id1832097658YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDoctorsLoungePod