HELEN News

Using Data To Advance Health Equity – Google.org & Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine

When COVID-19 cases first surfaced Google.org decided to provide funding and technical expertise to help track the spread of the disease and work to gain insights in the disparate racial and ethnic impacts of COVID-19, that could lead to a more equitable government response.

Google.org partnered with the Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) at Morehouse School of Medicine. SHLI received a Google.org Fellowship which allowed a team of 18 Google employees to work with a team at Morehouse full-time for six months pro bono to launch the Health Equity Tracker (HET) in 2021, supported expansion of the Morehouse technology team, and supported the creation of media and communication resources to help other nonprofits to us data and technology in their work.

The Health Equity Tracker received positive press from business, science, government and technology outlets as well as policy makers, public health officials, advocates and community organizers.. The engagement received positive reviews from Google employees. Lastly, Morehouse has hired a product manager and two software engineers to continue to work alongside Google employees to take the work forward.