At NTH, we believe in the mission of Equitech. The Equitech philosophy is the belief that diversity of teams, leadership, and perspectives is a force multiplier to fuel innovation producing solutions accessible to all communities.

Howard University (HU), who will lead outreach efforts, brings over 200 diverse clinical and technical experts, a large pipeline of aspiring women and URM innovators both within and outside the HU community, and experience with implementing a successful incubator program. HU has established a powerful outreach and resource infrastructure to bring together a national community of minority innovators through an entrepreneurship program that accelerates innovations to impact. Recently HU received a $17M grant from the PNC Foundation to create a Center for Entrepreneurship aimed at building resources and support for Black business owners across the country. 

We are committed to diversity and inclusion during early-stage translation as the first critical step towards creating long-term clinical and social impact. Accordingly, NTH projects will be evaluated and developed with the following criteria:

• Does the solution focus on equity and accessibility? Is the solution identified by and/or relevant to communities facing inequities? Can the solution be disseminated in and by communities facing inequities using a range of culturally and linguistically appropriate media and platforms? Are there clear goals to monitor equity impacts over time and an accountability mechanism to address adverse impacts that may arise?
• Has the team engaged the underserved? Have communities facing inequities been meaningfully involved in each step of solution design? Has the distribution of health and equity impacts across the population been analyzed to address inequities?
• Does the solution reduce inequities? Does the solution influence physical, mental, and/or social health issues within communities facing inequities and thus, decrease the differential in health outcomes?

NTH will continuously ensure that prospective applicants meet these criteria and are responsive to our equitech mission. Our collective goal is to offer neuromedical solutions that serve everyone, especially underserved communities and to increase participation in the neurotech ecosystem by URM communities.