These reflections were written a few days before the killing of George Floyd and the tensions that have erupted across the country. At the end of the letter I've appended a message on how our community is taking action to create an inclusive and equitable department for all members of our community. May 21, 2020I've been chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UVA for nine years, and these last few months dealing with the COVID-19 crisis have been both the best and worst of my tenure. I have had to make some of the hardest decisions of my administrative career at the same time that I've been amazed and inspired by the resilience of our faculty, staff, and students.