​Oct. 21, 2020

Dear Members of the HMS Community:

Diversity, inclusion and belonging continue to be among my top priorities. Much has happened across our country in the few short months since we released the final report of our HMS Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion and officially launched our Better Together plan. More names have been added to the long list of senseless and cruel killings of Black people who have died doing the same things that many of us have the privilege of taking for granted, and the feelings of unrest and divisiveness have only amplified.

Let me say again that these threats and loss of life are the outrageous consequences of deeply ingrained racism, which has seen an ugly resurgence in recent years. I am sorry for the wounds these painful incidents have exacerbated for members of our community, many of whom are already dealing regularly with microaggressions—both intentional and unintentional.

At the same time, more Americans are now awake to the discrimination and injustices faced by so many, and they have committed themselves to learning and taking action to support racial and social justice. Many passionate members of our community have come forward to share their experiences, ideas and suggestions to help make our school, our university, our city, our state and our country better places to live, learn and work. I am thankful to those who have come forward as individuals or groups, and I acknowledge that many have not come forward but may still be hurting. Please know that I see you, I hear you and I respect you.

After deep consideration and consultation with Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership Joan Reede and my senior advisers, today I write to announce a series of initiatives to further advance HMS’ diversity, inclusion, belonging and anti-racism agenda. The initiatives outlined below align squarely with our diversity statement and Better Together plan, whose goal you may recall is to establish HMS as the institution of preference for diverse individuals. As a community of healers and leaders, it is critical that HMS’ students, postdocs, faculty, staff, residents and clinical fellows represent the patients and families who are the ultimate beneficiaries of our collective work and service.

Perhaps most importantly, the framework for HMS’ diversity, inclusion, belonging and anti-racism agenda initiatives must remain grounded in our mission—to nurture a diverse, inclusive community dedicated to alleviating suffering and improving health and well-being for all through excellence in teaching and learning, discovery and scholarship, and service and leadership—and our community values. While there is certainly much more work to be done on local, regional and national levels, I believe that effecting change at HMS is the best way to create an enduring ripple effect. We must look inward at our own history, culture, policies and practices with the goal of examining ourselves and acting on those findings.

Click here to watch a video of Joan Reede and me discussing the importance of these initiatives with Ahmed Mohammed, director of talent acquisition at HMS.

Over the last two years—before and since the release of our Better Together plan in June—we have made important progress. Thanks to the fortitude and dedication of members of our community, we have established the HMS Faculty Council Subcommittee on Artwork and Cultural Representations, resulting in a sculpture of Alice Hamilton in the Tosteson Medical Education Center, a portrait of William Augustus Hinton in the Waterhouse Room in Gordon Hall and self-portraits of medical student Pamela Chen in the dean’s office; released a statement of mutual respect and public discourse at HMS; established guiding principles regarding eponymous features at HMS; and renamed the Oliver Wendell Holmes Society in honor of Dr. William Augustus Hinton, among other important initiatives.

There is much more we can and must do. This work is the responsibility of each and every one of us. Please talk with your colleagues, manager and department/unit administrator to learn how you can be a part of your local efforts. Join us and be a pollinator for racial justice and social change.

Sincerely,
George Q. Daley
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Harvard University

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Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Anti-Racism Initiatives

Framed within HMS’ mission statement, the following initiatives form the next wave of our important work toward becoming a more inclusive, diverse and anti-racism institution.

• Teaching and Learning: We will review the functions and programs across Medical and Graduate Education—including admissions, learning environment, curriculum, student affairs, assessment and faculty and staff development—with the goal of identifying areas of concern, closing gaps and developing action plans to monitor and report racist actions that occur across programs and associated learning environments. We will develop new classes for master’s and PhD students to acknowledge the ways in which racism is embedded in science and scientific culture and work to redress these longstanding issues. We will create clearer, more direct outlets for members of our community to report instances of discrimination. And we will increase diversity in our external education course leadership and faculty, marketing and social media content, and in the breadth and depth of issues covered in these programs and materials.
• Discovery and Scholarship: Within our preclinical departments, we will hire, as part of a cluster-hire initiative, up to four outstanding scientists in the life sciences who are committed to advancing HMS’ mission and community values. We will develop guidance, standards and metrics for faculty excellence in the areas of diversity, inclusion and belonging; create a path for faculty to be recognized for their contributions to this area; and signal to faculty the importance that HMS places on these contributions to its mission.
• Service and Leadership: We will create events and dialogues that bring members of our community together to promote diverse perspectives on and understanding of history and context, and that bring our HMS community together with members of our neighboring communities. We will recognize and support the establishment of communities within community, such as the new HMS Black Postdoctoral Association and Black Staff Caucus. And we will launch a public dashboard to track progress toward our goals, be transparent and hold ourselves accountable.