A Message from the President
Earlier in 2020, the Twin Cities and our nation were confronted with the killing of George Floyd. As people across the U.S. and around the world expressed outrage and concern, we renewed our commitment at NWHSU to educate ourselves regarding our unconscious biases and the racism that exists in our community. As an educational institution focused on maximizing health and well-being, we knew that we needed to take this transformational moment seriously. We don’t pretend to have all the answers about how to address the manifestations of this very complex issue in our personal and professional lives, but we do want to begin the conversation—however difficult it might be—so that we can learn from one another and grow to understand the diverse and intersecting set of challenges that we each face, both professionally and individually.
Toward that end, we have greatly expanded efforts to address diversity, equity and inclusion on our campus, and we are supporting work our faculty and university leaders have initiated within the community. We have renewed our efforts as an educational community to proactively educate ourselves regarding our unconscious biases. This webpage will keep you updated on those initiatives.
We also invited individuals from our various communities to share their views regarding systemic racism. Watch these videos and listen to the messages. These personal perspectives are sometimes painful, humbling, insightful and transformational. And they matter. Only through genuinely listening and learning from them can we begin the needed work to challenge racism in our lives, our systems, our institutions and our communities.
Please join our conversation on race, racism, and healthcare.
– Deborah Bushway, Ph.D., President and CEO of Northwestern Health Sciences University