Briana Stephenson Receives HDSI Bias2 Research Funding

Briana StephensonCongratulations to Assistant Professor of Biostatistics Briana Stephenson, who has received funding from the Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI) Bias2 Research Fund in support of her proposal Identifying bias in receipt and access to optimal care for endometrial cancer patients in Massachusetts.

Launched in September 2020, the HDSI’s Bias2 Program supports research that uses data science to uncover bias and systemic racism, as well as to understand and combat the use of badly-conceived data science that can reinforce bias and inequity. This special funding opportunity seeks to support research data science projects to uncover bias and inequities— whether in public policy, on internet platforms, in health outcomes, or elsewhere — as well as projects that seek to develop new algorithmic and statistical methods, related for example to fairness, transparency, data inaccuracy that can lead to bias, or confounding.

Dr. Stephenson’s research will entail using Bayesian clustering and classification techniques to identify the biases that may exist in the Massachusetts healthcare system leading to differences in receipt and access to optimal care for endometrial cancer patients. She hopes that this research will provide insight into the systematic barriers that contribute to poorer outcomes amongst those women in Massachusetts at greatest risk.