(New York, NY – January 13, 2019) – The Diversity Innovation Hub (DIH) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is among the Top 50 in Digital Health for 2020, receiving a Diversity And Inclusion Leadership Award for its efforts to improve health care through technology.

The DIH launched in fall 2019 to address the lack of women and people of color in innovation and technology, to foster ideas and solutions that address social and structural inequalities, and to accelerate efforts to advance diversity and inclusion in medicine and science. The initiative—one of the first of its kind among health care systems—aims to diversify the pipeline for career paths in health care innovation and technology through mentorship, training, and networking opportunities. The DIH is spearheaded by Mount Sinai's Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

The awards are sponsored by the venture fund Rock Health, the law firm Fenwick & West, Goldman Sachs, and Pacific Western Bank. Winners are chosen by vote of their peers in digital health.

"We are honored to receive this award as we continue to lay the groundwork to create meaningful change in the health field. We may be a growing hub, but this worthy acknowledgement shows the importance of our mission to advance diversity and inclusion through innovation," says Gary C. Butts, MD, Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy, and Community Affairs, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Mount Sinai Health System. "We welcome the role as a leading incubator in connecting the dots between innovation and diversity and inclusion, and we look forward to expanding programs to educate our students, trainees, and staff, as well as our neighboring communities that we serve, including Harlem."

In 2019, DIH piloted two programs that will continue this year. The first is a Student Innovation Fellowship that introduces medical students who are female or from groups underrepresented in medicine to the fields of biodesign, health care venture capital, and technology. The second is a curriculum in innovation and design thinking for the North Eastern Regional Alliance MedPrep Program, an educational pipeline program that engages undergraduate students from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds over three years to become competitive applicants.

The DIH will host its first Pitch Day this spring at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Winners will receive funds to further develop their plans and ongoing mentorship from the hub's board of advisors and partners, including community and tech leaders from Silicon Harlem; One Hundred Black Men, Inc. of New York; National Medical Fellowships, Inc.; Radical Health; and RubiconMD.

Health IT Homepage