An advocate for senior poverty prevention, a psychologist, an energy tech executive, and the port director of the country’s third-largest seaport are among the 30 leaders to become fellows in the ninth cohort of the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute (DCI), founded by Phil Pizzo, professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology, and former dean of the Stanford School of Medicine.

This year’s fellows will be joined by 10 partners, bringing the cohort to 40 members. Fifty-three percent of the 2022 class identifies as female, including leaders from Meta, LinkedIn, and a U.S. Commissioner on Public Diplomacy. Twenty-seven percent of the class is international, with representatives from Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.

The DCI program is a year-long fellowship that seeks to improve the life journey of accomplished individuals in midlife by helping them renew their purpose, build a new community and recalibrate physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. DCI also seeks to foster intergenerational engagement in an academic setting to help create a new paradigm for the university of the future.

DCI fellows and partners will participate in seminars and colloquia with their peers in the cohort, take courses across the university alongside undergraduate and graduate students, and engage in the work of schools, interdisciplinary centers, and institutes across the campus, including the Stanford Center on Longevity, the Center on Poverty and Inequality, the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, the Haas Center for Public Service and numerous accelerators and entrepreneurial initiatives. Through the dciX initiative, alumni and current fellows work with students and faculty on deeper dives into common areas of interest and impact.

As DCI has become established at Stanford, students and faculty have come to see the program as a valuable resource that enhances the teaching and learning experience. In the words of one Stanford student, “There is so much value in building relationships with all people and people who are different from you and in different phases of their lives. DCI Fellows have so much to share and are such wonderful supportive people.” DCI has inspired other programs in the U.S. and abroad, including at Oxford, Notre Dame, and the University of Texas. “We are pleased that other colleges and universities are developing programs modeled after what is being done at Stanford, helping to define the university of the future. This is an opportunity to seek ways to create the future, and not just react to it,” said Pizzo.

Read more about the Stanford DCI Class of 2022 Fellows and Partners.