UFDI Medical Director Urges Pause for Reflection

Colleagues and Friends,

I want to strongly encourage those able to please adhere to Dr Fuchs’ recommendations below.

Our Department upholds diversity, equity, and inclusion among its core values, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for racism or any form of religious, cultural or social intolerance. We have and will continue to work hard to model the right behavior and values to our trainees, to each other, and to our patients and families. We must ensure that our core values shine through in the leadership we demonstrate. We must be the voice of reason, teach by example, and empower each other. 

To quote Nelson Mandela, in his 1990 Address to the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid  stated ……we have to ensure the healing of the wounds inflicted on all our people across the great dividing line imposed on our society by centuries of colonialism and apartheid. We must ensure that color, race and gender become only a God-given gift to each one of us and not an indelible mark or attribute that accords a special status to any.

As an ex-South African, I was exposed first hand to the ravages of racism. It is not enough to be compassionate. We must act.

Des

Desmond Schatz, M.D.

Professor and Interim Chair of Pediatrics

Medical Director, Diabetes Institute

University of Florida College of Medicine

Past President, American Diabetes Association 2016