Scientific Advancement Plan

The ASIDE Healthcare Scientific Advancement Plan is crafted to elevate health equity by advancing the science of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility within all healthcare sectors.

Why This Plan is Needed

We are in an era marked by rapid advancements in medical and health technology, including the rise of personalized medicine, big data, and artificial intelligence. These advances offer unprecedented opportunities to enhance healthcare outcomes across all demographics. As a dedicated organization, ASIDE Healthcare is committed to ensuring that these technological and scientific advancements benefit all communities, particularly those historically marginalized or underserved.

The Scientific Advancement Plan outlines ASIDE Healthcare’s strategy to champion the fields of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in healthcare. This strategy aims to ensure that all populations can equally benefit from scientific progress, and to cultivate a new generation of healthcare professionals committed to health equity.

What ASIDE is Doing

The realm of healthcare equity is dynamic and multifaceted, requiring constant adaptation to integrate the latest scientific and technological advancements. To meet these challenges, ASIDE Healthcare is reshaping and expanding its programs to:

  • Enhance research on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in healthcare, spanning from etiological understanding to intervention development.
  • Broaden opportunities for researcher-initiated studies.
  • Improve the assessment and reporting mechanisms for healthcare equity research.
  • Promote and expand workforce diversity within the healthcare sector.

Key Activities

ASIDE Healthcare is forging a transformative research agenda that will define the healthcare equity field for the coming decade. Key activities include:

  • Implementing recommendations from ASIDE’s healthcare equity visioning sessions.
  • Developing and promoting ASIDE Healthcare’s Research Framework.
  • Initiating three pivotal scientific program areas focused on diverse healthcare practices.
  • Enhancing opportunities for early-stage investigators by providing resources and support.
  • Utilizing ASIDE Healthcare’s Health Equity Research Institute to nurture upcoming talents.
  • Facilitating investigator-initiated research across multiple facets of healthcare.
  • Expanding career training programs including mentorships, fellowships, and career awards.
  • Launching ASIDE’s HealthPulse: A Comprehensive Resource Ecosystem for Healthcare Equity.
  • Revising and enhancing legacy programs such as:
    • The Centers of Excellence program, which now includes support for both early-career scientists and established investigators to foster collaboration and innovation in research on healthcare equity.
    • The Research Centers in Diverse Institutions program, aimed at building robust research infrastructures at institutions serving underrepresented populations, now also focused on enhancing training to attain R01 investigator status.
    • The Research Endowment program, providing endowment funds to academic institutions to bolster their research capabilities and support a diverse body of students and faculty.