Terrance Mayes

Terrance Mayes, EdD, will serve as the Stanford Cancer Institute’s (SCI) inaugural Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  Since September 2020, Terrance has served Stanford Medicine as Associate Dean for Equity and Strategic Initiatives and Executive Director of the Commission on Justice and Equity. His clear vision, collaborative nature, and thoughtful leadership have been critical to efforts to address prejudice and bias, and health equity. Notably, he led the activation of the Commission on Justice and Equity and reporting of its recommendations. He also has had a significant role in establishing Stanford Medicine’s Racial Equity to Advance a Community of Health Initiative. Terrance’s expertise within Stanford Medicine will support the SCI in further building on Stanford Medicine’s commitment to embedding DEI at the core of all strategic initiatives and our goal of achieving diversity across SCI membership, leadership, and committees.

As SCI’s Associate Director for DEI, Terrance will lead our Plan to Enhance Diversity Core of the Cancer Center Support Grant.  This will encompass providing strong and visionary leadership for diversity within and throughout the SCI and in alignment with the National Cancer Institute's expectations for its designated comprehensive cancer centers, which include:

  • Enhancing the participation of women, minorities, and individuals from groups nationally under-represented in the research workforce, cancer leadership, and advisory boards

  • Supporting career-enhancing research opportunities for junior, early- and mid-career researchers, including those from diverse backgrounds, to prepare them for cancer leadership roles

  • Establishing infrastructure and utilizing institutional resources to expand the pipeline of members of diverse backgrounds through training or mentoring opportunities to encourage the participation of students, postdoctoral researchers, and co-investigators from diverse backgrounds, including those groups shown to be nationally underrepresented in the research workforce

  • Leveraging Stanford Medicine’s commitment and infrastructure to enhance the diversity of the SCI’s membership and leadership

  • Establishing criteria for monitoring and evaluating the progress of diversity

 

Nationally, Terrance has also recently accepted the invitation to assume new leadership as the Chairperson of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) new DEI Directors Forum.  This forum will create a space for NCCN Member Institution DEI leaders to share best practices and policies in DEI and collaborate across member institutions.  Additionally, Terrance will join the SCI’s Executive Director of Research Strategy, Babette Heyer, PhD, in representing the SCI on the Cancer Center DEI Network with ADs for DEI from NCI-designated cancer centers across the US.  Further, Terrance will serve as the SCI’s representative on the Association of American Cancer Institute’s new Leadership Diversity and Development Initiative Workshop in November.  As is evident from the multiple national efforts referenced above, Terrance’s leadership and alignment of these national efforts for the SCI will bring significant value to DEI within the SCI and Stanford Medicine, and also foster alignment of multiple national oncology leadership DEI initiatives.

September 2022