The Colorado PRIDE program: Health AI and Data Science in Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease: Application and Bioethics (HARP-BIO) uses top faculty mentors and resources at the highly ranked Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine Division, the Center for Bioethics and Humanities, and the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Scholars will use multiple omics platforms and learn about ethical use of data sciences, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to address how biases in coding affect biased outputs that may result in health disparities in pulmonary and/or cardiovascular diseases.
Career development activities will be complemented with behavioral and social science cognitive interventions to enhance success in academic medicine.
Scholars will receive mentorship in grant writing and monthly workshops in career development.
In spite of extensive efforts, basic and physician scientists from diverse populations are woefully under-represented in professorial ranks, particularly in specialties related to AI and the ethical use of data science. One explanation is that the many social and cultural pressures that those who are under-represented in science and medicine face are unrecognized. These pressures are outside the realm of academic performance; until we recognize that these societal pressures are as powerful as the pressure to succeed in academia, we will continue to lose these researchers.
To address some of these issues, the CU Anschutz Medical Campus “PRIDE Academy: Health AI and Data Science in Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease: Application and Bioethics (HARP-BIO)” will integrate comprehensive formal instruction in:
- Multiple omics platforms (proteomics, populomics, genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics) and bioinformatics, with an emphasis on the ethical use of data sciences, machine learning, and artificial intelligence
- Bias in/bias out: How coded bias affects AI and machine learning in the output of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease data that may increase health disparities
- Career development tools that include grant writing with a focus on drafting a specific aims page, a grant budget, using rhetorical patterns of writing, how to negotiate, how to mentor/be mentored, and other career development tools
- An additional level of engagement that is distinct from the mentor-mentee relationship. With the recognition that URiM scientists experience isolation, a sense of “otherness” that few mentors have experienced, we will implement the concept of academic “coaches” and use 2 levels of academic advisement, the traditional mentor: mentee, followed by an academic coach who complements and enhances the mentors’ role. The coach will be culturally competent and will help guide scholars navigate the intricacies of academia, using group activities and social science approaches such as communities of practice and cultural capital
- Best practices in mentoring and training in cultural competence and implicit bias so mentors can understand the challenges under-represented scholars face
We have outstanding faculty members who have a track record of mentoring and research in cardiovascular and/or pulmonary diseases and bioethics, both directly relevant to the mission of the NHLBI. Furthermore, we bring together a team of academic coaches whose main objective is the success of women and URiM scientists in academia.