Dr. Kent Wildern’s interest in healthcare dates back to his childhood, working at his father’s pharmacy at age nine and then as a Boy Scout camp lifeguard when he was 13. He later channeled his compassion into a 40-year dentistry career in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he ran his own practice, offered consulting services, and provided free dental care to those in need.
As of 2020, Dr. Wildern had no plans to fully stop working. He intended to keep his dentistry license active so he could continue doing what he loves most—taking care of people—on an independent contractor basis.
However, when he went to renew his dentistry license, state officials unleashed a proverbial kick in the teeth: a new implicit bias training mandate that forced Dr. Wildern to choose between his profession or his principles.
In 2020, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer put out an executive directive ordering the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) to establish implicit bias training standards for all health professionals in the state seeking or renewing a practitioner’s license.
Whitmer described implicit bias as unconscious “thoughts and feelings” that “are difficult to control” yet “can shape behavior.” She clarified in a later directive that the implicit bias requirement is part of her agenda of “addressing racism as a public health crisis” and “achieving racial justice.”
LARA dutifully followed Whitmer’s orders the following year with new rules compelling more than 400,000 health professionals to complete an hour of racial- and equity-oriented implicit bias training per year in order to keep their licenses and their livelihoods.
With the exception of veterinarians, this sweeping mandate applies across all healthcare fields, from dentistry and nursing to acupuncture and marriage counseling. Those who don’t comply face serious consequences: Since September 2024, LARA has fined at least 132 healthcare professionals a total of nearly $76,000 for failing to meet the implicit bias training requirement. Others have had their credentials suspended, and still others have reluctantly surrendered their licenses rather than comply—all during a worsening shortage of healthcare workers in Michigan.
Governor Whitmer ensured that this implicit bias mandate came from an unelected agency rather than the legislature, sidestepping any public debate on the issue. But it is unconstitutional for a state agency to weaponize its licensing powers to force healthcare professionals to choose between their careers and controversial training they disagree with and is irrelevant to their work. Government orders and regulations that compel such behavior exceed the agency’s authority under state law while also violating Michiganders constitutional rights to earn an honest living.
For Dr. Wildern, the impact was personal. He so strongly disagrees with the implicit bias training’s race-oriented content—which, importantly, has no clear connection to his practice—that he let his dental license lapse even though it meant he couldn’t continue the work he loves, not even part-time.
Now Dr. Wildern is fighting back. With free representation by Pacific Legal Foundation, he’s suing in state courts to put LARA back in its proper constitutional lane and protect Michiganders’ right to work without unreasonable ideological training requirements.
What’s At Stake?
- It is unconstitutional for administrative agencies to enact ideological requirements for professional licensure.
- It is deeply unjust to require that healthcare professionals undergo controversial, ideological training unrelated to their medical skill or knowledge in order to retain their licenses and, by extension, their careers.
- The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs does not have statutory authority to enact ideological training requirements.
