Black Women in Science and Engineering (BWISE)

I met a guy last night. Uninsured. Diabetic. Looking for work. $11,000 in unpaid medical bills with Cone Health here in Greensboro. No idea how he'll ever be able to climb that mountain. Wondering if he'll just be buried in medical debt for the rest of his life. But Cone Health is a tax-exempt hospital. All tax-exempt hospitals are required to offer and widely publicize 501(r) Financial Assistance Programs. He had no idea. We Googled the eligibility criteria. Read their documentation. Based on his income over the last 18 months, there's a good chance he'll qualify for full forgiveness. It took 5 minutes to find the pertinent information. It'll take him a few hours to pull together the proof of income he needs to provide. And hopefully, if all goes well, he'll be able to get out from underneath the burden of $11k in medical debt. Question - in your experience, how well do hospitals uphold the requirement to "widely publicize" their 501(r) FAPs? Do they often tell struggling patients about these programs? In my (admittedly limited) experience, no one seems to know about them. The article below may be a particularly singular example, but does seem to highlight the fact that hospitals perhaps don't always publicize their financial assistance programs as widely as was intended.

Meet one fab fifth grader. Eniola Shokunbi collaborated with classmates and scientists from the University of Connecticut to develop an air filtering system that eliminates 99% of airborne viruses like the cold and COVID-19. The Environmental Protection Agency tested the innovation, validated its efficacy, and shortly after, Connecticut’s State Bond Commission granted $11.5 million to install the units in schools statewide. Amazing work to keep students safe and healthy!

In part 2 of Embedded Bias, a 7-part series, Usha Lee McFarling and Katie Palmer explore how government-funded research may have backfired and laid the foundation for the problematic use of racial data. Dive into this series - and catch up on part 1 if you missed it. https://lnkd.in/ej9kVUyJ #RacialData #InclusiveMedicine #HealthEquity

Cybercriminals Are Stealing Cookies to Bypass Multifactor Authentication The FBI Atlanta Division is warning the public that cybercriminals are gaining access to email accounts by stealing cookies from a victim’s computer. Thank you for sharing! #cybersecurity #cookies #2FA #emails #MFA #authentication #hacking

"We need to invest in innovation, the investment is in our future", said Ted W. Love, MD four years ago during one of the first episodes of the Amplifying Scientific Innovation? Video Podcast. Remarkably, Dr. Love and his family pledged a $5 million endowment to the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine earlier this month to enhance the center’s impact in vital initiatives focused on helping individuals with sickle cell disease live healthier lives with fewer disease-related complications. Growing up in Nigeria, sickle cell disease (SCD) was considered a death sentence. Decades later, it was certainly a full circle moment to hear an American physician and world-renowned SCD champion reflect on a similar outlook on SCD from his experiences growing up in the United States: “When I was a kid growing up, sickle cell patients often did not see their 20th birthday. And we made some improvements that extended survival, typically into the 40s, which is not very good either.” At the time, Ted was the President & CEO?at Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. As I shared in my new book, Amplifying Scientific Innovation, the parallels?between our generational?and cultural?perception of sickle cell disease as a death sentence remains one of the most palpable connections for me to date because it showcases the transformative?power?of scientific innovations. While rare in developed markets, SCD is a group of inherited red blood cell (RBC)?disorders that affects approximately 100,000 Americans, many of whom are African American, and more than 20 million people worldwide according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. SCD complications begin in early childhood and are typically associated with shortened life expectancy, pain and other serious complications such as acute chest syndrome. Patient management focuses on pain alleviation, blood transfusions, and, in a few cases, bone marrow transplants in younger patients. It’s reassuring to see increased investments and interest in a global disease such as SCD. There is a plethora of unmet medical needs?that remain today, particularly for minority populations; many are hard-to-treat complex genetic?disorders such as SCD. Innovation is timeless and it's been illuminating to share 8-minute clips of previous podcast episodes that remain relevant and resourceful even today. To learn more about Ted's personal anecdotes on his leadership journey, views on health disparities in SCD and other diseases that affect underrepresented populations, and his outlook on innovation in the life science industry, please visit The Sophia Consulting Firm's website for the full video, transcript, and other resources: https://lnkd.in/gfBtmdH6 #AmplifyingScientificInnovation #healthequity #healthdisparities #minorityhealth #sicklecelldisease #clinicalresearch #geneticdisorders #philanthropy #diseaseawareness

HAPPY FRIDAY! Let’s start employing a fruit of the spirit self control this holiday season!

Job Seekers! You could be in a new role next month! Check out these new jobs posted on our Black Women in Science and Engineering (BWISE) Job Board! Job Board: https://lnkd.in/eBqE9Pr #careers #engineeringjobs #sciencejobs #techjobs

Happy Monday, #STEM community! Let’s kick off this week by celebrating the innovators, researchers, and mentors who are paving the way for the next generation of leaders in science and technology. At NSTMF, we’re committed to empowering diverse voices and talents through our #inSTEM program, helping students find their path and make connections that last a lifetime. Applications are still open for individuals interested in supporting the inSTEM scholars as mentors. ?? https://lnkd.in/evqYVCtp Share this post to spread the word and support tomorrow’s STEM trailblazers! ?? #STEMeducation #Mentorship #inSTEM #NSTMF #MondayMotivation

A newer class of drugs that target pancreatic cancer may get a helping hand from an old treatment workhorse: chemotherapy. Two new studies in mice show that adding chemotherapy to an experimental KRAS inhibitor called MRTX1133 greatly reduced tumor growth and spread compared with either treatment alone. https://go.nih.gov/B0kTZ2I