Dear friend,

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As the end of the year approaches, I wanted to close out 2025 with a note to you. This has been an exceedingly tough year for equity work, research, and health care in general. We’ve had a steep learning curve in how to respond to executive orders, but also how to safeguard our well-being in response to what has been an emotional rollercoaster of a year. I wanted to share with you some strategies that I found helpful in this last year:

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Find Your Tribe

Community is very important to weather these storms. The silver lining is that it is clear who is really committed to the work (and dug in) and who is just checking a box. For me personally, it was a moment in which I affirmed which colleagues or organizations were willing to continue this fight, and it was heartwarming to see. While the groundswell of the pandemic and George Floyd helped raise the issues of equity and racism to the forefront and make it mainstream, the players who remained after the start of this year feel authentic. Make sure you connect with them frequently to build your tribe.

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The Long Game

Those of you who know me know I’m fond of saying that this work is not a sprint but a marathon. This is doubly true today. Like any extremes, the pendulum will eventually swing the other way, and the goal is for us to still be standing when it does. To do that, it’s important to step back and look at the bigger picture and ask, “what needs to be accomplished for us to still be here 3 years from now?” For example, while language and terminology such as DEI are important, we should not lose sight of the fact that we can still carry on the important work of closing the gaps by pivoting to say, “programs for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

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Be Selectively Informed

We live in an age of technology where we have a plethora of ways to have information and news delivered to us. Especially in academia, there is immense pressure to be up to date on everything. But to guard my well-being and mental health, I’ve chosen to be selectively informed and to be diligent in screening what comes to me. It is ok if I don’t know everything. That is what subject matter experts are for (like lawyers who had a strong year!)

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In closing, I hope that your takeaway is that this work is still important, but we have to let go of the way we did things before and find new ways to do them. Or in other words, hustle.

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I hope that this letter finds you in good health, surrounded by family and friends, ready to celebrate the holidays and the New Year.

#StillHere

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Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH

Director