Mount Sinai’s Arnhold Institute for Global Health Partners With DigitalGlobe to Better Map World’s Most Underserved Populations
The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai today announced it is partnering with leading satellite imaging and data analytics company DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI) to create the Health Equity Atlas Initiative, known as ATLAS , a platform that standardizes and maps population data in order to generate insights that address health inequities.
ATLAS highlights blind spots in demographic and health information by analyzing inputs from frontline health workers and high-accuracy, high-resolution satellite images from DigitalGlobe. While the data engine can house existing demographic health surveys and infrastructure assessments, it is optimized for communities where information sources are out of date or absent. The platform is now being tested in active Arnhold Institute projects in Ghana, Guatemala, and New York City.
“Whether we’re talking about the Zika virus epidemic in the Americas and Caribbean, an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in a rural West African community, or chronic conditions like asthma or diabetes in East Harlem, information gaps exacerbate vulnerabilities to health crises, potentially transforming blind spots to hot spots,” said Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, Director, The Arnhold Institute for Global Health, and Chair, Department of Health System Design and Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “We are honored to call DigitalGlobe a partner in our work to address structural inequities affecting health care delivery and response to vulnerable populations.”
DigitalGlobe owns and operates the world’s most sophisticated constellation of commercial earth imaging satellites, which collects more than 3 million square kilometers of Earth imagery daily (about the size of India). DigitalGlobe unlocks powerful insights from this high-resolution imagery in its cutting-edge Geospatial Big Data platform, GBDX. Leveraging cloud computing and machine learning algorithms, GBDX streamlines data processing and analytics to extract useful information from the imagery-at scale, so partners like the Arnhold Institute can understand where the most vulnerable communities are, how to reach them, and what interventions are working. The Arnhold Institute has recruited leading data scientists to support ATLAS, including James Faghmous, PhD, The Arnhold Institute’s Chief Technology Officer, who manages ATLAS and has deep experience with global data imagery.
“DigitalGlobe and The Arnhold Institute are transforming the way decisions are made regarding the health of the world’s most marginalized populations,” said Rhiannan Price, Senior Manager of the Global Development Program at DigitalGlobe. “The convergence of technologies at play in ATLAS, from satellite imagery to big data algorithms, to machine learning to mobile data, is creating rich streams of information feeding targeted, action-oriented solutions.”
Other technology companies working with The Arnhold Institute in developing the Health Equity Atlas include software company Dimagi, and Medic Mobile, a mobile health company that provides software for frontline health workers.
About the Arnhold Institute for Global Health
The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System, seeks to improve the health of people and the communities they live in, both in the U.S. and abroad. The Arnhold Institute serves as a global arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, leading research on the design of more equitable and effective care models that are disseminated through digital products, training systems and input on policy design.
About DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution Earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions that help decision makers better understand our changing planet in order to save lives, resources and time. Sourced from the world's leading constellation, our imagery solutions deliver unmatched coverage and capacity to meet our customers' most demanding mission requirements. Each day customers in defense and intelligence, public safety, civil agencies, map making and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, navigation technology, and providers of location-based services depend on DigitalGlobe data, information, technology and expertise to gain actionable insight.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.
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