TACKLING RACIAL BIAS IN CLINICAL EQUATIONS

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Jun 27, 2023, 08:23 ET

Doris Duke Foundation Announces Largest Ever Commitment to Examine the Misuse of Race in Medical Research Informing Patient Care; Over $10 Million in New Grants

NEW YORK, June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The potentially improper use of race in the design of clinical algorithms – mathematical models used to guide disease diagnosis and treatment -- can lead to profound racial disparities in health care outcomes. Today, the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) steps forward to address this problem with Racial Equity in Clinical Equations, a new initiative launching with a landmark convening and the largest ever investment in gathering the evidence necessary to inform change.

Attention to the potentially dangerous results of race misuse in clinical equations is growing, as physicians, policymakers, and patient advocates have begun to scrutinize formulas used to inform evaluations such as the diagnosis of kidney disease and transplant allocation, pediatric care including urinary tract infections in toddlers, and the ability to have a vaginal birth after C-section.

DDF aims to advance this work through this initiative. The goals of the effort are:

To increase awareness of the problem within the medical research community.
To build support for the examination and revision of algorithms that improperly use race.
To generate evidence that can inform new guidelines to help shape clinical equations that improve health care outcomes.

The work is urgent. Race may or may not be a relevant factor in individual formulas that inform medical decision-making, but a failure to consider the downstream impact of choosing – or excluding -- race as an element in clinical equations can have disastrous results, potentially leading to the over, under, or misdiagnosis of disease, delayed treatment, and negative outcomes in patients of color.

Racial Equity in Clinical Equations addresses this concern. The initiative begins with a landmark summit of powerful stakeholders across science, medicine, and policy, on June 27, presented in partnership with The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and the National Academy of Medicine.

$10 million in new grants will document the impact on patients of existing algorithms with potential race misuse, provide vital data to inform new guidelines, and ultimately enable the medical research community to identify a framework to reconsider and potentially revise the mathematical models that underlie patient care.

"Great science advances equity through excellence," comments DDF President and CEO Sam Gill. "These grants will help ensure we bring the highest scientific rigor to the consideration of race in clinical algorithms so that we can begin to close intolerable racial disparities in health outcomes."

The Foundation has awarded the new grants to five organizations that are well positioned to bring together large medical and research communities in high impact disease areas to rigorously study the consequences of, and potential for, race misuse in existing algorithms, disseminate findings, set norms, and issue recommendations to influence research and clinical practice, and policy. The organizations below stand out for their leadership commitment to health equity.

The American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Heart Association
The American Society of Hematology
The Coalition to End Racism in Clinical Algorithms
The National Academy of Sciences

For detailed grant project descriptions, please visit www.dorisduke.org/EquityInEquations .

As DDF Program Director for Medical Research Dr. Sindy Escobar Alvarez comments, "Taking bold steps to revisit even the most standard healthcare tools with openness and creativity, is integral to the research community's responsibility to evolve and improve conventional wisdom for the benefit of human health – for all."

SOURCE Doris Duke Foundation