Latest news with #ProjectPurple
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New community health center opens its doors in Fair Haven
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — New Haven opened the doors to a new community health center on Wednesday morning, expanding on its previous location. $750,000 Project Purple grant helps Hartford HealthCare with pancreatic cancer screenings The new 36,000 square-foot building was a part of a $40 million expansion for the Fair Haven Community Health Center (FHCHC) campus on Grand Avenue. According to a press release from Mayor Justin Elicker, this expansion hopes to meet the growing demand for accessible high-quality care in the community. The new community space will focus on supporting new learning programs like ESL, job training and digital health literacy, including support for neighborhood nutrition. WTNH News 8 collecting donations for Connecticut Foodshare | Nexstar's Founder's Day 'As you walk through, it not only is high quality space for both physical and behavioral health services, but it also has space for dieticians to meet with folks and do healthy cooking classes,' said Karen Dubois-Walton, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. 'There's space for a food pantry, the ability for people to come here and get food resources they need.' Officials expect FHCHC to be able to field more than 55,000 visits per year with the addition of this new space. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
$750,000 Project Purple grant helps Hartford HealthCare with pancreatic cancer screenings
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Project Purple is taking on one of the most deadly cancers known — pancreatic cancer. Often called a 'silent killer,' this disease rarely shows symptoms until it's too late, contributing to a five-year survival rate in the single digits. Early detection is critical, yet no reliable screening method has existed until now. Thanks to a groundbreaking $750,000 grant announced last fall, Project Purple is six months into a transformative effort to change that reality. Dino Varrelli, founder and CEO of Project Purple, joined Good Morning Connecticut at 9 a.m. to discuss. Watch the video above to learn more. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Project Purple takes on pancreatic cancer
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Project Purple is taking on one of the most deadly cancers known, pancreatic cancer. Often called a 'silent killer,' this disease rarely shows symptoms until it's too late, contributing to a five-year survival rate in the single digits. Early detection is critical, yet no reliable screening method has existed until now. Thanks to a groundbreaking $700,000 grant announced last fall, Project Purple is six months into a transformative effort to change that reality. Dino Varrelli, founder and CEO of Project Purple, joined Good Morning Connecticut at 9 a.m. to discuss. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
From AI ethics to inclusive leadership: how professional development gives businesses an edge
In response to emerging technologies, shifting societal attitudes, and evolving ethical dilemmas, companies that embrace continuous learning stand to gain a competitive edge. The University of Melbourne offers a wide range of professional development courses designed to equip business leaders with the skills and actionable insights they need to navigate their companies' most pressing challenges. 'We are living in a fast-changing and interconnected world,' says Yu Flora Kuang, a professor of accounting at the University of Melbourne. 'In our world, diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] is not just the right thing to do or a moral imperative – it's also a strategic imperative. It's the smart thing to do.' Kuang's research confirms what forward-thinking organisations already recognise: we're better together. 'Organisations that embed DEI into their core operations benefit from a richer diversity of thought, enhanced innovation and improved decision-making,' she says. Apple's Project Purple is a prime example of this; cross-collaboration with diverse teams led to the creation of the first iPhone. 'The project involved a diverse team of hardware engineers, software engineers and designers working closely together,' Kuang says. 'This cross-functional collaboration was instrumental in revolutionising the smartphone industry.' Beyond internal operations, a commitment to DEI influences brand perception and consumer engagement. 'A 2024 study found that brands using diverse and inclusive imagery in their campaigns see higher engagement rates, with 80% of customers more likely to interact with such brands,' Kuang says. Similarly, 83% of gen Z employees consider a company's commitment to DEI important when choosing an employer. While organisations may recognise the importance of DEI, the challenge that many face is translating DEI commitments into meaningful action. 'What companies deliver is largely different from what they have promised,' Kuang says. 'There's a gap in what they say and what they do … they need to acquire critical knowledge to really understand how to effectively and efficiently implement what they have promised.' The University of Melbourne's micro-credentials and short courses aim to address this gap by providing leaders with practical, actionable insights into unconscious bias, inclusive leadership and strategies to build diverse, high-performing teams. The courses are designed for busy professionals, offering flexibility through online and in-person options to ensure leaders can learn and apply new strategies without disrupting their schedules. Unconscious bias is particularly important to address because it's embedded in human nature, Kuang says. Our herding nature means we're drawn to people who look like us, sound like us, think like us and have a similar educational background. Although we may set out with the intention of appreciating and valuing each other's differences, Kuang says unconscious bias can make it difficult for us to create a truly diverse, inclusive work environment. Removing human filters from the recruiting process using AI is one way businesses are tackling this challenge, but acquiring relevant knowledge is going to be crucial if they are to create a culture that truly values diversity. 'DEI is a very important measure of business sustainability,' Kuang says. 'We are all different and unique in our own way, and we bring different, unique contributions to an organisation – it's the organisations that can maximise the aggregate contribution that will benefit in the long run.' The rapid adoption of AI in business brings with it ethical challenges and risks that must be carefully navigated. With AI in such a state of flux, Prof Jeannie Paterson, the director of the University of Melbourne's Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, says it's important that business leaders stay on top of AI's implications. 'Business leaders need to understand the capacities of AI and the importance of using it in a way that's safe, effective and ethical,' Paterson says. While generative AI is accelerating productivity, it also introduces new challenges. 'AI lacks a fundamental understanding of truth,' Paterson says. AI can perpetuate problematic stereotypes, produce fake content and reflect a limited worldview. '[Most current AI tools] reflect primarily a US worldview because that's what [they have] been trained on; they won't be reflecting, for example, Asia-Pacific perspectives,' she says. 'The idea that AI is neutral or in some way telling some ground truth, it's not, it's dependent on the choices that are made about data and training. 'Business leaders need to understand those risks so they can actually respond to them, and have governance mechanisms and policies about the way the AI is used so they get the best out of it, while also minimising the risk.' The environmental costs of AI models are significant and the dampening of creativity and culture is a concern, Paterson says. 'The more we use generative AI, the greater the risk that we lose independent voice, because we're always filtering things through an AI that's been trained at a particular place at a particular time. 'The concern, and I think it's a genuine one, is that the more people rely on a particular tool to filter their thoughts and produce their images, the more we lose that individual, creative spark and voice that might be interesting and unique and specific to our region or our communities.' Given the complexities surrounding DEI and AI, business leaders must remain agile, informed and proactive. The University of Melbourne's micro-credentials and short courses can provide a structured way for professionals to stay ahead of the curve. While no business leader is expected to be an AI engineer or a DEI expert, they do need to know enough to ask the right questions, implement the right policies and engage in meaningful discussions, Paterson says. These courses can help mitigate risks associated with AI. 'Some employees will use AI regardless of company policies,' Paterson says. The danger is that they input sensitive data into unsecured AI tools, posing serious privacy and security risks to companies. By providing professional development opportunities to business leaders, companies can ensure employees are guided to use AI responsibly and in compliance with data protection regulations. The University of Melbourne also offers tailored training programs that align with industry-specific challenges in a range of sectors, including government, healthcare and sustainability. As Kuang says, one size does not fit all when it comes to professional development, so organisations can work with the university to develop customised programs that address their unique DEI- or AI-related challenges. With a focus on real-world application, interdisciplinary expertise and flexible learning options, these programs can empower professionals to drive positive change within their organisations. Learn more.
