Imperial College Health Partners, who host Discover-NOW, are proud to be partnering with Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) to lead by example in the health data science industry in response to the issue that Black people are heavily underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) community.
This Summer we are welcoming two talented paid interns as part of HDR UK’s Black internship programme, which has seen 54 interns recruited to the partnerships that form the HDR UK co-ordinated UK Health Data Research Alliance (HDR Alliance).
The Black community are heavily underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) community, with only 65 Black and 310 mixed and other individuals making up the total of 10,560 science professors in the UK – as highlighted in The Guardian.
The internship programme – in partnership with the 10,000 Black Interns initiative and the UK Health Data Research Alliance (HDR Alliance) – will provide paid work experience to future Black data scientists as they work at 25 of HDR UK’s partner organisations, including ICHP.
Through the Black internship programme, HDR UK hopes to help tackle the underrepresentation of Black people within the STEM community by transforming the prospects of and providing the opportunities for young Black people in the UK to flourish in their future STEM careers.
Gibril Gaye is a final year Mathematics and Statistics student at the University of Reading, he will be joining ICHP this summer through the paid internship programme. He said: “I have strong interests in the application of Mathematics and Statistics to real-world problems, especially within medical research.
“Given the never-ending supply of new techniques and methods from ML/AI research, this internship will expose me to the newest technologies and approaches in health data research.
“I hope to gain experience in working within an interdisciplinary team alongside data scientists to know more about the field and what it takes to succeed as one.”
Meron Kifle will also be joining ICHP as an intern this summer through the programme. He said: “I have always been interested in the health care science and how quantitative fields like data science could be applied to make more precise and cost-effective health service delivery.
“Through this internship, I am looking forward to glean a glimpse of what health data scientist day to day work is and gain new experiences, skills and professional connections along the way.”
Discover-NOW is committed to ensuring diversity and equality is present in all areas of our organisation and work. With our unique role in North West London we are invested in increasing opportunities for under-represented groups within health and care professions.
