Health Innovation via Engineering

Dear Bioengineering Community,

During this challenging time in our nation, I wanted to reach out to all of you.  We have an amazing bioengineering community, one that values diverse perspectives, approaches, and backgrounds.  We are also a community that tackles challenges head on.    Just like we have dove into the challenge of addressing COVID-19 with dedication and creativity, I urge you to think about how to best support each other right now amidst the racial, ethnic, and gender divisions that plague our nation.    We all have a responsibility to help eliminate racism, and the economic and health care inequalities that result.  Yet, experience has demonstrated that each of us must begin by first acknowledging the reality of the problem, our individual roles in both the causes and solutions, whether small or large, and the importance of standing up, taking action, and working together.  

Now, more than ever, we each need to advance the conversation in our program, our institutions, and our communities.  Conversation can bring us together, identify the challenges, focus our sights, unite our actions, and implement change.  The bioengineering community can and must meet the challenges of this moment and is committed to supporting all of you as we go forward. 

Tejal Desai,  PhD

Ernest L. Prien Endowed Chair and Professor

Deborah Cowan Endowed Professor

Director, Health Innovations Via Engineering (HIVE) Initiative