Dear Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Healthcare and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital leadership,

We write this letter not only as the healthcare professionals, trainees and scientists that make Stanford Medicine’s life-saving care possible, but more importantly as human beings. There are no words, images or statistics that can fully capture the trauma that is unfolding in Gaza, as the state of Israel continues to commit war crimes and genocide against Palestinian civilians. At a time when the Israeli military is killing civilians and healthcare workers, in addition to destroying healthcare facilities with complete disregard for Palestinian humanity or international law, healthcare institutions in our country have completely abandoned our colleagues and our professional duty to humanity in their hour of greatest need. The Israeli state has committed multiple war crimes, including extermination and starvation of civilians, as found by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. Even prior to Oct. 7, multiple human rights organizations, and now the International Court of Justice, determined that the Israeli state had been committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, through deprivation of economic and social rights, segregation, land dispossession and fragmentation into domains of control.

Stanford Medicine is failing to achieve its mission of “improving health through leadership, diversity and collaborative discoveries and innovation in health care, education and research.” Thus far, its silence, inaction and censorship of Palestinian voices have failed to create an environment that supports diversity and asserts that Palestinian lives matter. 

We condemn antisemitism. We condemn the multiple instances in this country in which Jewish individuals and institutions have been attacked simply for being Jewish. However, criticism of the state of Israel is not the same as antisemitism, as explicitly noted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition. We advocate for the liberation of all, and believe that none of us can be free until all of us are free. 

Stanford’s money is investing in a genocide where children are dying of starvation and preventable disease. Stanford needs to be involved in this health crisis on the right side. The time for organizational leadership is now. 

We believe that the following actions are the minimum necessary for Stanford Medicine to take in order to live up to its mission of serving public health both globally and locally.

Adopt an ethical procurement policy and stop purchasing from companies that are involved in Israeli war crimes, genocide or apartheid. This includes 11 companies listed by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, based on findings by international human rights organizations such as the United Nations and American Friends Service Committee. Among them, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise has provided IT servers for equipment that supports the Israeli military, prison system and police, who protect Israel’s illegal settlements. Siemens is engaged in the construction of the EuroAsia Interconnector, a submarine electricity cable incorporating Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories into the European energy grid. Contracting with companies who aid in the destruction of hospital and university infrastructures, the murder of healthcare workers and the genocide of an entire people is not in line with our Hippocratic Oath to “do not harm.”

Send a message to the Stanford University Board of Trustees supporting divestment from companies involved in Israeli war crimes, genocide or apartheid. Stanford has an endowment of more than $36 billion. It has not disclosed how much of its finances are actively involved in genocide and apartheid in Palestine, despite the fact that Stanford’s own Statement on Investment Responsibility states that the University may and should divest from companies whose “actions or inactions” are “abhorrent and ethically unjustifiable.” The policy adds that unjustifiable activities include apartheid and genocide.

Stanford has previously divested from companies in Sudan’s Darfur region for its genocide and South Africa for its apartheid. This year, more than 70% of student voters supported divestment from companies involved in Israeli war crimes. It is time for Stanford Medicine to follow the lead of institutions like Evergreen State College and take a stand for divestment.

Support the medical care of Palestinians. With Stanford’s complicity in the ongoing crisis, the institution has a responsibility to ameliorate the urgent consequences. Stanford Medicine should support the delivery of medical supplies to Gaza and healthcare worker medical missions to Gaza, as they did after the recent public health crises in Turkey as well as in Ukraine. Stanford Healthcare and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital should offer to help treat complex care patients from Palestine.

Support medical education in Palestine. With hospitals and universities destroyed across Gaza, Stanford has a responsibility to assist in the rebuilding of the health system by supporting medical education. The School of Medicine should admit current Palestinian medical students and residents from Gaza to continue their medical education here, similar to how Stanford Medicine hosted Ukrainian medical residents and scholars after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. As an ongoing commitment, the School should establish partnerships with medical schools in Palestine for exchange and research programs, including giving opportunities for Stanford M.D. and physician assistant students to complete rotations in Palestine. Harvard Medical School has an excellent example in their Palestine social medicine course, which teaches students in the West Bank about health systems and the social determinants of health.

End censorship and repression of Palestinian and Pro-Palestinian voices at Stanford Medicine. The School of Medicine has acted in a biased and discriminatory manner against pro-Palestinian students and groups. Faculty members have obstructed educational events relating to these topics and censored pro-Palestinian voices, all of which are documented by the University’s May report. 

For example, medical school faculty prevented the Organization for Global Health, a student group, from hosting their event on Medical Apartheid in Palestine using Stanford spaces or zoom account, stating that the term “apartheid” in the event title “triggered people like the N-word.” This was said to a Black medical student who was shocked that the term was being compared to an actual racial slur against Black people. In another incident, a security guard prevented a medical student from entering the medical school because she was wearing a sign that said, “Healthcare Workers Demand: Stop Bombing Hospitals.” Additionally, organizers and speakers of the Muslim Health Conference were told by a Department of Psychiatry leader to remove the word “genocide” from their program and not to call for a ceasefire. The conference itself was also surveilled by an officer from the medical school’s Continuing Medical Education office, creating an atmosphere of intimidation. Lastly, medical school administration initially prevented medical students’ annual recruitment music video from being shown in its original form, which has a multilingual section addressed to admitted students, specifically because it had a segment in Arabic that did a lighthearted parody of the popular song “My Blood Is Palestinian.” Despite the lyrics being entirely remade to be fun and medical school-related and the video scene celebrating Arab culture, this was deemed “too political” simply because the original track title had to be credited. 

The School of Medicine must pledge that it will treat all students fairly when it comes to speech and organizing events, without extra restrictions or policing, and address the concerns raised in the report.

Acknowledge and condemn the genocide in Palestine, the attacks on healthcare workers and facilities and the historical and ongoing medical apartheid in Palestine. Stanford leadership has not been silent on the ongoing genocide. They have issued statements singling out Hamas for condemnation for violating international law, while blatantly refusing to acknowledge the massive violations of international law committed by Israel. Stanford Medicine is giving silent support to Israel’s invasion, which has created a hostile atmosphere at the hospitals and school. Stanford Medicine must begin healing this harm by acknowledging the widely documented crimes by the Israeli state.

Failing to implement any of the actions listed above represents truly a missed opportunity to learn, listen and empower Palestinians who are living and breathing the consequences of endless dehumanization.

Sincerely,

Stanford Medicine Coalition for Palestine

Any interested students, staff and faculty at Stanford Medicine who would like to join the coalition can visit this google form: tinyurl.com/sms-gaza-sign

Natalie Zahr, assistant professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Jonathan Lu, resident physician, Family Medicine

Evelyn Wong, M.D./Ph.D. candidate

Sophia Chernikova, senior scientist, Department of Neurosurgery

Maha Zubaidi, resident physician, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Soneida DeLine-Caballero, researcher, Department of Medicine

L’Orèal Kennedy, physician, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Jewel Sheehan, clinical assistant professor, Department of Anesthesia

Sweden Smith, administrative associate, Epidemiology and Population Health

Shoeb Lallani, resident physician, Neurology

Ashley Monsrud, fellow, Pathology

Mohamed Diop, Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery

Trevor Crowell, research associate, Primary Care and Population Health

Ada Zhang, medical student

Anisha Kesarwani, fellow, Pediatric Nephrology

Margarita Ramirez Silva, medical student

Asha Nair, clinical assistant professor, Pediatrics

Ana Diaz Castaneda, residency/clinical fellowship program coordinator

Ellis Moody-Davis, registered nurse, Stanford Blood Center

Zoe Hughes, medical student

Madina Jahed, resident physician, Psychiatry

Jessica Hsueh, fellow, Pediatric Critical Care

Anjali Gupta, medical student

Yusra Hussain, adjunct clinical assistant professor, Primary Care and Population Health

Kathryn Wiesendanger, resident physician, Emergency Medicine

Yousef Turshani, clinical assistant professor, Pediatrics

Natasha Abadilla Glenn, resident physician, Child Neurology

Ala Soofian, clinical assistant professor, Pediatrics

Amina Chaudhry, clinical assistant professor, Medicine

Clinton Gibson, medical physicist assistant, Radiation Oncology

Sonni Palmer, medical student

Christopher Wohlers, certified medical dosimetrist, Radiation Oncology

Josiah Yarbrough, medical student

Anthony Sawyer, clinical assistant professor, Pediatric Anesthesiology

Divya Gopisetty, resident physician, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Kristin Sun, physician, Pediatric Anesthesiology

Marissa Elizabeth Miller, physician assistant

Aliah Mehkri, resident physician, Family Medicine

Bianca Martin, medical student

Sean Liu, resident physician, Anesthesia

Adrienne Lazaro, administrative director, Medicine

Eva Archer, fellow, Pediatric Infectious Disease

Paola Lepe, resident physician, Family Medicine

Aboli Ghatpande, physician assistant student

Jackson Moorman, clinical nurse II, Stanford Children’s Hospital

Oliver Nguyen, Ph.D. candidate in biology

Justus Bell, physician assistant student

Chelsea Nnebe, M.D./Ph.D. candidate, Neuroscience

Lakai Legg, medical student

Yudhishtar Bedi, postdoctoral researcher, Orthopaedic Surgery

Shiraz Maskatia, clinical professor of pediatrics, Cardiology

Amna Adrees, resident physician, Pediatrics

Thu Nguyen, resident physician, Family Medicine

Theo Stoddard-Bennett, resident physician, Psychiatry

Vanessa Nava, medical student

Hanan Rimawi, medical student

Grace Jin, medical student

De’mond Glynn, resident physician, Internal Medicine

Ali Raza Khaki, clinical assistant professor of medicine/oncology

Mahad Ahmed, M.D./Ph.D. candidate

Jacqueline Barnes, physician assistant student

Abdrabu Hamid Ahmed, CRCA, Medicine

Tifa Yeh, administrative associate, Radiation Oncology

Mrigender Singh Virk, clinical associate professor, Department of Pathology

Adi Xiyal Mukund, M.D./Ph.D. candidate

Hana Ghanim, Ph.D. candidate in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine

Imene Smati, clinical research coordinator

Claudia Phillips, Ph.D. candidate in bioengineering

Shweta Gudapati, medical student

Mike Mayer, medical student

Aditi Gnanasekar, M.D./Ph.D. candidate

Edo Ighodaro, medical student

Andrew Gabriel, registered nurse, Advanced Lung Disease & Lung Transplant

Meena Islam, inpatient social work clinician

Jang Lee, medical student

Santiago Sanchez, medical student

Claire Williams, registered nurse, M6 AAU

Kamol Isamukhamedov, staff, Radiology

Qusay Omran, medical student

Sofia Portillo, M.S. candidate, Stanford Prevention Research Center

Aisha Burns, physicist assistant, Radiation Therapy

Grant Lackey, technologist, Stanford Healthcare Radiology

Ria Pal, clinical assistant professor, Neurology

Allen Cooper, professor emeritus, Department of Medicine

Anna Metzler, registered nurse, M6

Elizabeth Price, assistant professor, Hematology

Jonathan Lewis, medical dosimetrist, Radiation Oncology

The letter was additionally signed by 28 Stanford Medicine students, faculty and staff members who chose not to be identified by their full names.