The Journal of Surgical Research featured the research of Michelle Mathis MPH, program manager II, Tosin Badewa, former PRISM student, Ruth Obiarinze, M.D., researcher II, Linda Wilkinson, CRNP, Colin Martin, M.D., vice chair of diversity, equity and inclusion, on the cover of the April issue.

Second author Badewa was a member of the PRISM program–or Pre-College Research Internship for Students from Minority Backgrounds–which provides promising high school students who are interested in careers in healthcare and medicine with hands-on research experiences under the mentorship of surgeons and their peers.

As a precursor to this cover article, in 2019, Badewa presented on her research "A Novel Application of Artificial Intelligence to Assess Diversity in Surgical Performance," at the PRISM and SURE presentation reception.

The group’s newest research article, “A Novel Use of Artificial Intelligence to Examine Diversity and Hospital Performance,” discussed their use of artificial intelligence software to determine the degree of racial and ethnic diversity in gastroenterology and GI surgery departments across the county.

The team of researchers used the 2019 US News and World Report rankings for best hospitals by specialty to categorize gastroenterology and GI surgery departments into 2 groups: 1-50 and 51-100. Hospital websites of these top 100 were viewed to determine if racial diversity and inclusion were highlighted in the hospitals' core values or mission statements.

Using a facial analysis software Betaface, the team was able to determine the race, ethnicity and gender of the care providers in each of the top 100 gastroenterology and GI surgery departments.

Ultimately, the team found that hospitals with gastroenterology and GI surgery departments in the top 50 were more likely to mention diversity on their websites compared with hospitals that ranked from 51-100.

To read the full study, click here.