Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Message from our Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Dear all,

Never has there been a time when we have been asked to question so deeply who we are at our core and how we wish to weave our life stories, our humanity, our morality, our very essence into the fabric of the community we wish to build.  The COVID pandemic has served to highlight the racial, ethnic, gender, and socio-economic disparities and tensions that plague our global family.  The persistent violence against our Black/ African American communities and the rising hate crimes against our Asian/ Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander communities weigh heavily on us as we try to move past this year of grief, but we will not be razed to the ground as a society.  Now, more than ever, we look to our academic communities in the sciences and humanities to provide the data and the resources we need to rise together.  

It is in this spirit, we call to action the reaffirmation and commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion in the fabric we are weaving at Stanford Ophthalmology, Stanford Medical School and Stanford Hospital and Clinics.

We DO NOT discriminate on the basis of differences in age, ability, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation.  We promote and seek to attract and educate trainees, faculty, and staff who will make the population of health care professionals representative of the national population and diversify the healthcare workforce.

We are broad in our diversity, but we are beautifully defined in our unity.  We must celebrate the undeniable fact that the power of each of our life threads weaves strength into the fabric of our community.

Our department supports AUPO and AAMC in our uniform mission to educate our trainees, care for our patients, and lead in research efforts to eliminate systemic racism and health care disparities in our academic communities.

Ann Caroline Fisher, MD
Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Office of Faculty Development and Diversity (OFDD) Liaison

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The OFDD Liaisons are appointed by School of Medicine Clinical Department Chairs to serve as departmental representatives that liaise between the Chairs, members of their specific department, and the OFDD to assist with faculty concerns, ideas, and the advancement of excellence at Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Fisher works directly with our Chair, Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg, to enhance faculty development and leadership in the department, at Stanford University, and around the world. We have faculty participating in the Early Career AAMC Women's forum leadership training, K08 grant-writing workshops, and other venues. We host regular Grand rounds for faculty and staff on topics such as diversity, community, and unconscious bias. We hold ourselves to the highest standards when it comes to creating a healthy, inclusive, and supportive culture. Our department regularly reviews a diversity dashboard, and ensures our search committees—from resident to faculty searches—review best practices for recruitment and retention of faculty. For our department, diversity drives excellence.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values at the Stanford School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital and Clinics. The Stanford Department of Ophthalmology believes that diversity is a key factor in driving excellence and innovation.   Diversity encompasses and is not limited to differences in gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status. We are committed to recruiting people with a variety of backgrounds and life experiences and training them to be leaders at the forefront of innovation in teaching, research and patient care.

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