Key presentations will address vital issues in education medicine and employment from student success to racial bias in healthcare and artificial intelligence to recruitment during Black History Month activities presented by Upstate Medical University’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The theme of the monthlong celebration is Fostering Success and Healing.

A panel presentation on Student Success and Academic Excellence will be held Monday, Feb. 12 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in 4414A Academic Building. The panel will feature Onondaga Community College President Warren Hilton, PhD; Syracuse City School Superintendent Anthony Davis and Executive Director of Say Yes to Education Syracuse Ahmeed Turner.

 Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, MBA, PhD of Yale University School of Medicine and a leading expert on AI in medicine, will offer a virtual presentation on Racial Bias in Health and AI from noon to 1 p.m., Feb. 13.  Ohno-Machado is Yale’s deputy dean of biomedical informatics and chair of biomedical informatics and data science. She served as co-chair of an expert panel convened by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Link information to be announced soon.

“As the use of new AI techniques grows and grows, it will be important to watch out for these biases to make sure we do no harm to specific groups while advancing the health for others. We need to develop strategies for AI to advance health for all,” Ohno-Machado said. The panel presented its ideas in the JAMA Network Open on Dec. 15, 2023.

A session on Structural Racism and Health is planned for 1 to 2 p.m., Feb. 22 in 2331 Weiskotten Hall, featuring Brittany Taylor, community impact director of the American Heart Association.

Recruitment and Retention of Diverse Personnel is the focus of a panel presentation from 10:30 a.m. to noon, Feb. 27 in 4414 Academic Building. Featured panelists are Davie Bey, managing principal at DKON Consulting; Jamie Lyn Perry, assistant professor of management at Syracuse University and Gwen Webber McLeod, president of Gwen Inc.

Also on tap for Black History Month is the Black History Month Gala, 6 to 10 p.m., Feb. 24, Crowne Plaza, 701 E. Genesee St., Syracuse and an MWBE Meet and Greet, 10 a.m. to noon, 116 Campus Activities Building, Elizabeth Blackwell Street.

Caption: Onondaga Community College President Warren Hilton, PhD, will be a panelist at a session on Student Success and Academic Excellence.