- New education and advocacy focused Foundation to facilitate data sovereignty, equitable technology access, and the sustainable adoption of digital tools
- Foundation will also advance community health and work to eliminate health disparities by leveraging open source blockchain and machine learning technologies to support its programs
May 9th, 2022, Washington, DC – Today, Equideum Health (formerly ConsenSys Health), a ConsenSys partner and Mesh portfolio company creating Web3 person-centered healthcare and research networks, announced the creation of the Equideum Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mission to accelerate digital equity by creating a shift in how data is collected and stored, and how technology is sustainably adopted for the advancement of community health and the elimination of health disparities.
The Equideum Foundation has been formed as a program within the Greer Institute for Leadership and Innovation, a non-profit organization dedicated to leadership, innovation, youth engagement and entrepreneurship via its 21st Century Leadership Model™.
To achieve this, the Equideum Foundation’s activities will:
(a) provide education in support of health, financial, and technology literacy including understanding personal cybersecurity risks.
(b) provide education on consumer data privacy and data use rights and health and social outcomes as well as economic potentials related to personal data use.
(c) conduct research on user-centered outcomes, health economic outcomes, social-mobility, and public health.
(d) deploy open source software leveraging blockchain and federated learning for the benefit of underserved communities.
The founding Executive Director of the Foundation will be Pierre Vigilance, MD, MPH, who will align the role with his position as Vice President for Population Health and Social Impact at Equideum Health.
Dr. Vigilance is a health executive with over 20 years of experience whose primary expertise is in population health strategy where he couples his broad experience with an ability to create novel partnerships and solutions for problems suffered by populations with poor health outcomes. He has provided health equity advice to health systems, community-oriented non-profits, and technology companies; served as the first Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University; Health Commissioner for Washington DC; Chief Health Officer for Baltimore County; and Assistant Health Commissioner for Baltimore City.
As the Vice President for Population Health & Social Impact at Equideum Health, and Executive Director of the Equideum Foundation, Dr. Vigilance is responsible for engaging in thought and practice-based leadership for the company related to platforms, products, and partnerships designed to improve community health and wellness leveraging blockchain, advanced privacy preservation technologies, and decentralized, trusted artificial intelligence (AI). This work calls for a network of diverse partners, and with a career that has spanned multiple sectors, he is well equipped to bring inclusive approaches to the challenge of addressing health disparities. He serves several corporate and community organizations as a board member and advisor including: Volunteers of America National Service; Seam Social Labs; Community Transformation Partners; and the Community Health Design Institute. His professional portfolio, civic engagement, and lived experiences intersect to inform the cross-sector approach he takes to the pursuit and maintenance of health.
“We believe it is important for underserved communities to understand the opportunities technology presents, to be in a position to advocate for meaningful access to those tools and the ability to use them, and to benefit in a sustainable way from this elevated engagement. For the Equideum Foundation health equity it is a guiding principle, and we see accelerating digital inclusion for underserved communities as an essential factor in its pursuit. We see our alliance with Dr. Greer and his Institute as an important step as we engage on this front,” says Dr. Vigilance, Executive Director of the Equideum Foundation and Vice President for Population and Social Impact for Equideum Health.
Melvin Greer, PhD, Founder and Executive Director of the Greer Institute for Innovation and Leadership, adds:
“Increasingly, digital literacy is becoming a critical part of health, and without it, underserved communities will continue to be excluded from technology-driven programs, platforms, and products. This will make health data less representative of the general population which has serious implications because it threatens to perpetuate biases, unjust treatment, and health disparities. It is great to have the Equideum Foundation join the Greer Institute for Leadership and Innovation. We are aligned on approaches to community engagement, and I am confident this partnership will be instrumental in bringing awareness and education on data sovereignty and how it can improve health outcomes in underserved communities.” says Dr. Greer, Founder and Executive Director of the Greer Institute for Leadership and Innovation.
“Large swaths of the world’s population are marginalized due to wealth, education, and technology gaps, all impacting health. Dismantling data silos and fundamentally changing the way health data is accessed and shared calls for more fervent efforts to ensure all communities have the knowledge and tools to engage. We are thrilled to have Dr. Vigilance and the Equideum Foundation joining the Greer Institute for Innovation and Leadership,” notes Heather Leigh Flannery, Founder and CEO of Equideum Health.
The Equideum Foundation will commence operations in May 2022. More information on its mission, goals and activities can be found at https://equideum.health/foundation/.
About the Equideum Foundation
The Equideum Foundation, the non-profit arm of Equideum Health, will create a shift in thinking in how technology is accessed and adopted by underserved communities, and how data from those communities is collected, stored, and used for the advancement of community health in pursuit of health equity. Globally, underserved communities have limited access to essential services putting them at risk for a disproportionate share of social challenges. The systems serving them are often inadequate, leaving citizens ill-prepared to handle the complicated systems they must navigate. From education and housing to economic stability and community development – the factors impacting health are numerous. Underpinning all this is the digital divide, which, while it has been appreciated for some time, still threatens to leave some communities behind. Members of underserved communities should not feel disenfranchised, uncared for, and generally detached from society as these are issues which can manifest as poor health outcomes, making the Equideum Foundation’s education and advocacy approach to addressing the digital divide so important. More information is available at https://equideum.health/foundation/.
About Equideum Health
Equideum Health (formerly ConsenSys Health), a ConsenSys Mesh portfolio company and ConsenSys partner, builds Web3 person-centered healthcare and research networks called Data Integrity and Learning Networks (DILNs). DILNs feature self-sovereign identity, fine-grained verifiable consents, advanced privacy preservation and decentralized data liquidity across enterprise and individual data silos. DILNs are implementations of the company’s Elevated ComputeTM platform, powered by Ethereum, tokenization, decentralized artificial intelligence (AI), and confidential computing. Equideum Health’s DILNs prioritize populations with uniquely complex healthcare needs and aim to improve population health and clinical outcomes by impacting access, equity, quality, personalization, engagement and empowerment.
A founding member of the Decentralized Trials & Research Alliance (DTRA), Equideum Health is innovating in the field of privacy-preserving clinical trials matching, e-consent, and precision medicine applications. As an active participant in multiple Linux Foundation organizations, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and IEEE SA Open initiatives, Equideum Health is driving standards development and harmonization efforts necessary for the success of healthcare public-private partnerships in a Web3 world.
Learn more about our vision, offerings and accomplishments at equideum.health.
About The Greer Institute
The Greer Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to leadership, innovation, youth engagement and entrepreneurship via its 21st Century Leadership Model™. Its programs accelerate the maturation of today’s leaders and inspire future innovators. The Greer Institute conducts ongoing research and then promotes significant ideas to policymakers and other stakeholders to drive change. https://www.greerinstitute.org
MEDIA CONTACT:
Pete Harris
pete.harris@equideum.com
917.379.7287