YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

A new program at the School of Public Health aims to promote data and health equity at Yale and around the world. 

The program, Data Science and Data Equity, or DSDE, will strengthen data science training programs and create opportunities for students and professionals to learn about and implement equitable data in their work. It will organize workshops and support a new student-run club.

“We should make sure that everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, has equitable access to data resources and innovations, in terms of both availability and quality of data,” Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee is a data scientist at the School of Public Health and the leader of DSDE. She started her position at Yale this fall and previously worked at the University of Michigan, where she said she realized the importance of data equity.

Mukherjee found that a lot of data in her field was used inaccurately. For example, healthcare data collected from one demographic might not apply to another demographic.

“We are basically learning from one community and transferring that knowledge to other communities,” Mukherjee said. This can be harmful, she added. 

In her research, she discovered that certain drugs used to treat ovarian cancer are less effective for Indian women because the data collection process for the development of the drugs did not adequately include this demographic.

Mukherjee believes it is crucial that data is used accurately to serve the communities it impacts and that the presence of underrepresented and marginalized groups in data science must be improved. 

“We are working on setting up studies and collecting evidence,” Mukherjee said. “We are setting up models to analyze the data. We are involved in downstream policy consequences.”

Sohani Sirdeshmukh is the program manager for DSDE, handling the initiative’s logistics and communications. She believes that interdisciplinary collaboration is key to its success. 

DSDE is implementing a monthly Coffee, Cookie and Coding workshop open to anyone on the Yale campus and will help people with introductory courses on data science, Sirdeshmukh explained.

“It’s been wonderful to collaborate not just with public health faculty members, but also other faculty and students across campus,” Sirdeshmukh said.

DSDE also launched a new student club — Statistics in the Community, or Statcom chapter at Yale. Statcom is a national student club that aims to increase data equity in communities across the country by offering free data and statistics consultations to local businesses and organizations. 

Kerry Conlin is a doctoral student at the School of Public Health, who is a student representative on the DSDE task force and is helping to start Statcom at Yale. Conlin explained that she appreciates being able to use her work to create a tangible impact on her community.

“We could be working with the local library, local food banks, local government, trying to help these organizations understand the needs of their community,” Conlin said. “[We can] visualize data they collect, help design surveys or run analyses of the best ways for them to use their resources.”

DSDE was started in September 2024.