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Diversity Commitment

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Dear Colleagues,

Our hearts break at the ongoing tragic and senseless deaths of innocent black lives in our country. We know many of you are hurting for friends, family, colleagues and neighbors, and we grieve and stand in solidarity with you. We believe all people, regardless of race, are entitled to dignity, justice, and equal treatment. We believe more can and must be done to confront and help end the systemic issues of racism, inequality and injustice that are part of our society. Change is possible!

Stanford AIMI has committed to doing more to help make the world a better place for all and that starts right now. We have identified organizations in tech that support underrepresented groups, especially people of color, that we will seek to collaborate with; we will host forums to raise awareness on race and racism in tech; we are creating a resource page to support diversity in AI; and we are making tangible, deliberate changes to our funding opportunities to ensure our ability to enable important AI research in socioeconomic aspects of health and healthcare.

A few things we can all do today:

  • Join the March for Racial Justice, which will take place today, June 4 at 12:15pm outside Li Ka Shing Center. The event is being organized by the LEAD (Leadership Excellence Advancing Diversity) Program and Stanford Pediatrics Advisory Council, and a number of us from Stanford AIMI plan to attend.
  • Observe 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence. We have canceled today’s AIMI research meeting and ask that you use our normal meeting time to reflect and reaffirm your commitment to ending racism and supporting diversity.

While many look forward to moving on to the “new normal” as Shelter-in-Place gradually comes to an end, let us not be content with normal as we once knew it. Let us work together to make our society and the world truly a better place—for all.

Sincerely,

Curt Langlotz, Matt Lungren, Johanna Kim

June 4, 2020