Taking a Stand against Racial Injustice
Tightly woven into ECRI’s DNA is the imperative to speak truth to power, based on facts and evidence. The facts are that for centuries in the United States, racism has caused historic and acute trauma and untold pain, suffering, and justified anger.
The senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis this past May has reignited a worldwide movement against racism, inequality, and inequity. This movement speaks volumes, as people from many nations raise their voices in unison and move to take action against racism.
Racism affects all areas of civil rights and liberties and endangers human life. It manifests in every walk of life: in fair housing, equitable opportunity in workplaces, and in financial, educational, and healthcare institutions. Racism has created and continues to create enormous disparities and barriers. Racism is pervasive and must be eradicated. This must begin with us.
Our President and CEO, Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, has strongly voiced his concerns about these events and reinforced our organization’s core values, which are compassion, integrity, impact, transparency, and innovation. These values provide important foundational blocks for an antiracist workplace. They emphasize that ECRI does not and will not tolerate racism of any kind.
Leading by example, Dr. Schabacker signed the CEO Pledge for Diversity and Action in early June, joining more than 1,000 CEOs who signed the pledge.
From our executive leadership committee to individual employees in offices in the United States and around the world, ECRI stands united to combat racism, discrimination, inequality, and inequity.
Our commitment
We, the undersigned, acknowledge and honor the fundamental value and dignity of all individuals. We collectively commit to make our workplace an environment that respects diverse experiences and is inclusive in thinking, heritage, and traditions. ECRI will bring these principles further into our work on improving healthcare for all populations.
As an independent nonprofit organization improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of care across all healthcare settings, ECRI commits to taking positive action within the healthcare industry to improve delivery of service to all people, regardless of race, gender, religion, beliefs, disabilities, sexual orientation, or personal lifestyles.
We will hold not only our leadership accountable to that commitment, but will hold each other accountable as well. And we hope you, the public, will hold us accountable, also. We will be true to our word through our actions.
We, the Steering Committee of ECRI’s Culture Team endorse and support this statement.
- Diane Robertson, Co-Chair
- Leslie Van Alstyne, Co-Chair
- Alysha Melnyk, Subcommittees Chair
- Stephanie Jerin, Committee Liaison Chair
- Tom Toczylowski, Secretary
We, the Executive Committee of ECRI, endorse and support this statement.
- Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Anthony J. Montagnolo, MS, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
- Peter Catalano, MBA, CPA, Chief Financial Officer
- Scott Fraser, Chief Information Officer
- Dheerendra Kommala, MD, Chief Strategy Officer
- Theresa A. Tavernier, MBA, SHRM-SCP, Vice President of Human Resources
- Andrea Vandeven, MBA, Chief Marketing Officer
- Randy White, Chief Legal Officer
- Michelle Gollapalli, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion
- Jon Trigg, Vice President of Sales
- Mike Argentieri, Vice President of Technology and Safety
- Karen Schoelles, MD, SM, FACP, Vice President of Clinical Excellence and Safety
The following ECRI employees contributed to this article: Rennea Mills, Gail Horvath, Nancy Napolitano, Julianne Morton, Eloise DeHaan, and Diane Robertson