Black

• Health practitioners are increasingly concerned that because race is a social construct, and the biological mechanisms of how race affects clinical outcomes are often unknown, including race in predictive algorithms for clinical decision-making may worsen inequities.
• A higher eGFR value means better kidney health.
• My recently published research suggests that excluding race from certain diagnostic algorithms could worsen health inequities.

Different approaches to fairness

• Researchers use different economic frameworks to understand how society allocates resources.
• This approach allocates resources to those with the most opportunities to generate positive outcomes or mitigate negative ones.
• Although utilitarian approaches do not take fairness into account, an approach that does would ask two questions: How do we define fairness?
• Are there conditions when maximizing an algorithm’s prediction power and accuracy would not conflict with fairness?

Equality of opportunity

• There are two fundamental principles in equality of opportunity.
• However, differences in individual effort that occur because of circumstances, such as living in an area with limited access to healthy food, are not addressed under equality of opportunity.
• Equality of opportunity implies that if algorithms were to be used for clinical decision-making, then it is necessary to understand what causes variation in the predictions they make.

Evaluating clinical algorithms for fairness

• To hold machine learning and other artificial intelligence algorithms accountable to a standard of equity, I applied the principles of equality of opportunity to
  evaluate whether race should be included in clinical algorithms.
• The first, diagnostic algorithms, makes predictions based on outcomes that have already occurred at the time of decision-making.
• The second, prognostic algorithms, predicts future outcomes that have not yet occurred at the time of decision-making.
• For example, prognostic algorithms are used to predict whether a patient will live if they do or do not obtain a kidney transplant.

Unanswered questions and future work

• My colleagues and I are exploring many of these unanswered questions to reduce algorithmic discrimination.
• We believe our work will readily extend to other areas outside of health, including education, crime and labor markets.

• WASHINGTON, D.C., May 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) congratulates its Board Member, Toni Townes- Whitley set to become the next Chief Executive Officer of Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAIC).
• Townes-Whitley joined Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Board of Directors in 2019.
• Townes-Whitley has increased the financial support of TMCF programs that promote equity and black representation in corporate America through her advocacy.
• Thurgood Marshall College Fund carries forward the legacy of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall by providing access to opportunity for students attending publicly-supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

• In addition to Harper, guest judges will be Mickeia Jackson, managing director at CBRE, and Chantel Powell, Founder & CEO @PlayPits.
• THE PITCH is an exciting competition designed to train 200 of the most outstanding young minds from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly Black Institutions in entrepreneurial training and app development.
• "Last year, the Foundation supported the pilot of the Metaverse with MetaScholars as a part of THE PITCH™ competition," said Natalie Grandison, Director of Engineering Initiatives at the A. James & Alice Clark Foundation.
• Teams will develop solutions to business, social, or educational challenges and pitch their ideas to expert judges composed of entrepreneurs, small business owners, executives, venture capitalists, and other investors.

• TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) today announced it has been named a 2023 honoree of The Civic 50 by Points of Light and the Telecommunications Sector Leader.
• The Civic 50 honors the most community-minded companies in the United States.
• 2023 marks TEGNA’s fourth consecutive year on the list, and the third year as Telecommunications Sector Leader.
• A summary of 2023 TEGNA Foundation Community Grants to date is available here .