The Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) has announced the launch of an initiative aimed at researching and bringing visibility to the improper use of race in the design of clinical algorithms.

The Racial Equity in Clinical Equations initiative is designed to increase awareness of the problem within the medical research community, build support for the examination and revision of those algorithms, and generate evidence that can inform new guidelines to help shape clinical equations that improve healthcare outcomes. To launch the initiative, DDF will conduct a summit in partnership with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, and the National Academy of Medicine that will draw together stakeholders in the clinical, research, funding, and policy realms to learn about ongoing efforts and identify opportunities to address the misuse of race in formulas guiding medical decision-making head on.

Through the initiative, $10 million in grants will support the documentation of how existing algorithms with potential race misuse impact patients, provide vital data to inform new guidelines, and ultimately enable the medical research community to identify a framework to reconsider and potentially revise current and future mathematical models that underlie patient care. To date, grants have been awarded to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association, the American Society of Hematology, the Coalition to End Racism in Clinical Algorithms, and the National Academy of Sciences.

“Great science advances equity through excellence,” said 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.” 

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