Inclusive Innovation: Embracing Diversity, Equity and Belonging in Life Sciences

The New England Journal of Medicine recently began a series of essays on “biases and injustice that the Journal has historically helped to perpetuate.” The journal wants ”to learn from our mistakes and prevent new ones” – and make a historic acknowledgement that healthcare and research have failed to represent the diverse peoples they serve.

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While healthcare has long been a universal need, this disconnect has generated inequity in treatment, access to care and participation in research. As we enter a new age of biotechnology and medicine, with AI rapidly accelerating innovation, it is more critical than ever before to align healthcare with diversity, equity and belonging – from the bench to the bedside.

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Types of Bias in Healthcare 

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Historically, medical research has overlooked diversity of populations, often focusing disproportionately on data from white male subjects. This lack of representation has led to AI models that perpetuate inequities and fail to diagnose conditions accurately, especially for people of color and women. While AI’s promises to improve diagnosis, personalize treatments and enhance research are game-changing for both the industry and patients, AI is only as fair as the data on which it is trained.

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A report by Stanford School of Medicine suggests that AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Bard, have shown biases against people of color. Researchers found that some chatbots shared dangerous falsehoods about patients of color – and even reinforced debunked ideas about the biological differences between races. It’s inevitable that people will turn to these technologies as “a first port of call” for basic health and medical information, and the wheel of bias will begin to turn. The sad fact is that this is a lesson the tech industry has already encountered – facial recognition technology launched in 2015 failed to discern between primates and Black men due to a lack of representative data.

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Moreover, this issue extends beyond biases in information-gathering – for the connection between data, diversity and health outcomes truly impacts lives. For instance, the use of pulse oximeters during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted significant pitfalls in representative medical research. Critical, lifesaving care was not provided to people of color because the devices, which measure oxygen in the blood via light technology, were not accurate when used by darker skinned patients. Additionally, the Journal of the American Heart Association reported that women who visited emergency departments with chest pain in 2014-2018 waited 29% longer than men to be evaluated for possible heart attacks.

<split-lines>"It’s inevitable that people will turn to these [AI] technologies as 'a first port of call' for basic health and medical information, and the wheel of bias will begin to turn."<split-lines>

Bridging the Data Gap

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The good news? We are beginning to address these challenges.

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Less than 2% of the genetic information being studied today comes from people of African ancestry, but an initiative launched by Meharry Medical College in Nashville aims to change the tune by collecting genetic material from 500,000 people with African ancestry. With support from Regeneron Genetics Center, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk and Roche, the Diaspora Human Genomics Institute hopes to eventually translate its findings into new diagnostics and treatments that could reduce health inequalities.

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Companies like Element Biosciences are also helping democratize genetic sequencing by creating a fundamental shift in access to these typically expensive and out-of-reach instruments. To achieve this, Element is rethinking the practical barriers to accessing this technology globally so that fast, high-quality sequencing can be used in a diverse set of research settings.

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Similarly, Evidation is accelerating representative health research by connecting directly with millions of individuals across the country through its app and digital health research platform. Evidation harnesses diverse permissioned health data, including wearable and patient-reported data, to better understand social determinants of health and paint a more complete picture of lived health experiences.

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And, companies like Recursion are ensuring underrepresented entrepreneurs have access to fully equipped laboratories, a network of investors, and business operations education, by funding grants and fellows through Altitude Lab – an incubator focused on early-stage life science and health care companies.

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We’ve also begun to see new pulling of legislative levers that influence equity. With the Biden administration’s commitment to women’s health research, we can expect a push for more gender inclusive datasets. This movement will likely compel researchers and biotech venture capitalists to rethink the conditions they invest in and ensure they are more reflective of the unique health needs of women and those in marginalized communities.

<split-lines>"The Diaspora Human Genomics Institute hopes to eventually translate its findings into new diagnostics and treatments that could reduce health inequalities."<split-lines>

Improving Outcomes and Reputation Go Hand-in-Hand

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As the New England Journal of Medicine has demonstrated, embracing diversity, equity and belonging is unquestionably the right path toward better patient outcomes. It’s also essential to building trust in the brand.

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Customers, investors and regulators are developing a deeper understanding of the importance of representation. So for companies, this means that both reputation and the bottom line will be dependent on how they communicate the ways in which products and services meet diverse needs. It will be equally essential for companies to share the stories of how they build their technologies, why they matter, and the impact they will have on all of society.

<split-lines>"Embracing diversity, equity and belonging is unquestionably the right path toward better patient outcomes. It’s also essential to building trust in the brand."<split-lines>

Mission North’s Life Sciences practice works with organizations that are breaking down biases and solving equity challenges – all while leading the world in rigorous scientific innovation. Learn more about how we are amplifying their outstanding commitments to improving the world of health and science.