Dear Members of the HMS Community:
A couple of weeks ago, Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership Joan Reede and I earmarked this week for the release of the final report of the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. We could not have anticipated that the timing would be so meaningful. As we embrace in our community values statement, our community is committed to seeking diversity and promoting equity and social justice. This week has highlighted the critical importance of this aspiration.
As I wrote in my message to you this past Sunday, it is imperative that we acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of our history and actively promote social justice, challenge discrimination and address disparities and inequities. I launched the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion with four goals in mind: 1) To analyze the landscape of HMS, its affiliates and Harvard University; 2) to develop an HMS diversity and inclusion vision, statement and policy that foster excellence in teaching, research and service; 3) to identify measures of accountability; and 4) to prioritize needs for deeper investigation, goal-setting and action.
Chaired by Joan, the Task Force included 36 administrators, faculty, staff, postdocs and students. Their community-wide assessment comprised input gathered through numerous town meetings, focus groups, site visits, website portals and surveys. Emerging from their efforts were four key goals: develop people and infrastructure, build community and belonging, address culture and communication, and hold [us] accountable and generate knowledge.
This final report serves as a springboard for an ambitious, long-term effort, Better Together. The goal of this effort is to implement the Task Force’s recommendations, with the priority of establishing HMS as the institution of preference for diverse candidates. As such, we strive to increase representation of historically marginalized individuals—those underrepresented in medicine (URM), those with disabilities, those who identify as LGBTQ and women—at all academic levels, particularly senior faculty and department administrators and leaders, at both HMS and its affiliated institutions. Better Together also acknowledges a shared responsibility and potential to address issues of health disparities, equity and social justice.
I hope you will enjoy this week’s Voices from the Community video. It features Joan Reede interviewing Karina Gonzalez Herrera, Alden Landry and Nawal Nour about the work of the Task Force, how the pandemic has changed their work and how our patients, students, faculty, staff and trainees are being affected by what is happening in our country.
Please join me in thanking Joan and the entire Task Force for their critically important work. I encourage you to read the report and consider how you can get involved in our diversity and inclusion efforts. I also hope you will join us for the Diversity Awards virtual ceremony on Tuesday, June 9, at 2 p.m.
Sincerely,
George Q. Daley
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Harvard University