Notre Dame project to unify health equity data strategies
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The University of Notre Dame is collaborating with Accenture (NYSE: ACN), as well as campus and community partners, to develop a holistic approach to health equity data. Notre Dame says the Accenture Health Equity Data project will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve medical and social care challenges.
The project, which is being supported by the university’s Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society, is being led by Nitesh Chawla. Chawla is the institute’s founding director and professor of computer science and engineering. Accenture, which provided a gift to support the project, has also committed to a fundraising campaign with its employees and alumni over the next three years.
“The Accenture Health Equity Data gift will allow us to build a comprehensive framework to identify where gaps exist for underserved communities when trying to improve health and well-being,” Chawla said. “An understanding of these gaps can illuminate the sources of disparities that can be followed up by collaboratively developing clinical, behavioral, social and/or policy interventions that target these challenges.”
According to the university, the project will attempt to unify stakeholders, governments, nonprofits and other community organizations to identify and address health obstacles, instead of working on the issues separately.
Chawla says the project will ultimately aim to develop a model to replicate and scale health disparity solutions.
“We hope to develop a framework for co-creation and co-innovation to advance solutions to tackle health disparities challenges, including but not limited to responsible AI for health, an annual health equity data index and adding precision to social determinants of health actions,” said Chawla.
The university says the project will bring together a forum of leaders from academics, government, business and nonprofits to discuss specific community healthcare inequities and solutions.