Stanford University dean of Medicine Lloyd Minor has spoken out against the negative impact that President Trump's immigration ban has on the field of medicine. The travel ban's effects were instantaneously felt in academia, medicine, business and tech.
President Trump issued an executive order suspending entry for citizens of specific countries. Individuals from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen will not be allowed entry from the nation for 90 days.
Several universities have provided support for their international students who are affected by the travel ban. The Association of American Universities President, Mary Sue Coleman, also urged the administration to clarify to the world that the U.S. continues to welcome the most talented people from all countries to study, teach as well as conduct research at local universities.
In a piece with Quartz, Lloyd Minor, dean of Stanford University's School of Medicine, how national borders can hinder the progress of science. He noted that collaboration among scientists of different nationalities, a lot of them refugees, were able to result to the development of vaccines for polio and smallpox.
This collaboration also led to several countries being able to develop crops and feed their populations. Moreover, as with Zika and Ebola, diseases can be spread globally. With this, fighting these outbreaks will need cross-border collaboration because progress in science is built upon the sharing of information and ideas.
Minor also stated that the United States has played a significant role in the collaboration of international scientists. This has allowed the nation to gain much from this process, with American patients getting to be the first to try out new therapies and preventive strategies.
Stanford's dean of Medicine warned that the consequence of the U.S. shutting itself off from the world would include slowing the progress of all biomedical research. He added that the government should be enhancing international interactions instead of limiting it and finding new ways to facilitate data-sharing on a global scale.
