One AAPI, Many Communities: Celebrating Our Diversity with Dr. Alok Patel
It was a memorable AAPI Heritage Month for the FACS community as we co-hosted a Stanford-wide — from Stanford Redwood City to main campus (LKSC) and Zoom in between — keynote and lunch with Asian Staff Forum on Thursday, May 30. When the planning committee composed of ASF and FACS members gathered to brainstorm ideas of possible speakers from within our communities, Dr. Alok Patel rose to the top and it was clear why.
Dr. Alok Patel carries many titles: a pediatric hospitalist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, a clinical assistant professor at Stanford pediatrics, a producer, a TV personality, a family man (girldad alert!), a public health advocate, and an Indian Santa Claus - check out his instagram. He is a road warrior, too, frequently traveling to-and-fro PBS Studios in Boston. Because of this, the planning committee— in coordination with Dr. Patel —was aware his scheduled arrival to SFO would land him with a couple hours to spare on Thursday, May 30th… that is until Mother Nature showed up in Boston and delayed his flight all together!
The planning committee forged ahead and made lemonade out of the Mother Nature lemons and carried on with Dr. Patel speaking in real time on Zoom. Despite the setback, we didn’t skip a beat and it felt like Dr. Patel was in the room with over 70 Stanford staff to “Patel it like it is” with his keynote: “One AAPI, Many Communities: Celebrating Our Diversity”.
You can see for yourself the insightful presentation that spans the importance of accurate health data of our diverse Asian communities to inspiration from Bruce Lee - Dr. Patel’s hero.
Thank you to all who volunteered to make this special hour happen across campuses and for our remote colleagues. Special thanks to Diversity & Access Office, Redwood City Campus Services, and Stanford Catering. We appreciate the additional support from the Asian Liver Center, Stanford Nourish, Stanford CARE, and the Stanford Neurodiversity Project.
About AAPI
AANHPI Heritage Month, which stands for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander - the official name for the month of May as of 2021, although many also use the term AAPI heritage month. In 1978, Congress passed a resolution to recognize Asian American Heritage Week, and it was expanded to a month in 1992. The month of May was picked as it was the month the first Japanese immigrants arrived in 1843, and the month the transcontinental railroad was completed by Chinese laborers in 1869. (excerpt of remarks given by Cindy Cho)
