Dear Members of the HMS and HSDM Community:
I remember it like it was yesterday, walking in solidarity with our students and members of the HMS, HSDM, and Harvard Chan School communities from the Quad to the Boston Common as part of the national March For Our Lives rally against gun violence. The poignant, youth-led movement was created out of tragedy in response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 people dead and another 17 wounded.
That was Feb. 14, 2018, more than four years ago. Since then, according to evidence-based research compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, there have been an astounding 2,260 mass shootings in the U.S., resulting in 2,274 individuals murdered and another 9,324 injured. And the broader number of deaths and injuries attributed to all forms of gun violence, including homicide, murder, accidents, defense, and suicide, is equally alarming. These sobering statistics include the recent massacres at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York; an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; and, two days ago, a medical building in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
We have learned that Dr. Preston Phillips—a skilled orthopedic surgeon and advocate for diversity in medicine who graduated from HMS in 1990 and subsequently completed fellowships at the HMS-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital—was among the four people killed in Tulsa. I share my deepest sympathy with all who knew and loved Dr. Phillips. My heart goes out to them and to the families of all the adults and children who have died as a result of gun violence.
Tragically, this incident is the latest in a seemingly unending series of devastating shootings that serve as painful and recurring reminders that gun violence is a medical and public health crisis in this country, one that needs to be urgently addressed through the meaningful regulation of guns.
The most fundamental responsibility of our representative government is to ensure our safety; we need urgent legislation and action to counter this scourge. Our society accepts any number of constraints to ensure public safety including taxing cigarettes, requiring seat belts and air bags in cars, mandating sprinklers and fire escapes in buildings, and regulating medical devices and pharmaceuticals. It is unconscionable that lawmakers continue to fail to rein in the hyperproliferation of weapons of war in our neighborhoods.
I am both heartbroken and outraged, and I know that many, if not most of you, feel the same. This issue is weighing heavily on the hearts and minds of people in our community and throughout the country. Many Americans are having difficulty concentrating at home and at work. They are grappling with the anxiety of sending their children to school. They are also struggling to comprehend the abject failure of our elected representatives to address this crisis.
If you need support during this deeply unsettling time, please access the University resources available to you, including Counseling and Mental Health Services for students, Harvard’s Employee Assistance Program and Work/Life Programs for employees, and the Harvard Ombuds Office, Longwood for all staff, trainees, faculty, and students.
For those who are interested and motivated to take action, this recent article from BuzzFeed and the websites for the Prevention Institute and Everytown for Gun Safety have some tangible options to consider. In addition, today the American Hospital Association is holding its sixth annual Hospitals Against Violence national day of awareness, and on June 11 the 2022 national March For Our Lives will be held in Washington, D.C., and in cities across the country, including Boston.
Please take care of yourselves and each other.
Sincerely,
George Q. Daley
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Harvard University