Ndifreke Ikpe

Project focus: Doris Duke Racial Equity in Clinical Equations Civic Science Fellows will work to increase visibility and prioritization to develop a more rigorous approach to how race is applied and understood in the design of clinical algorithms and the assessments they inform.

Ndifreke Ikpe joins the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) from the Aspen Institute where she served as a Senior Associate responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Health Innovators Program. This program served over 120 senior health executives and thought leaders. Ndifreke convened committed leaders across multiple sectors to learn from one another and find viable solutions to address U.S. health care issues. In this role, she supported the development of program strategy and work plans for the continuous improvement of the Health Innovators Fellowship program.

Previously, Ndifreke served as a Maternal Mental Health Clinical Care Coordinator at the Joseph J. Peters Institute. As the primary liaison across multiple partnerships, she communicated strategies for the improvement of mental health outcomes. She analyzed qualitative and quantitative data to address the needs of clients, which was later used to develop a centralized intake system to improve clinical care coordination of services.

As Civic Science Fellow, Ndifreke will support the health equity work of CMSS by collaborating with member societies to support shared learning across society stakeholders, including staff and volunteer leaders that oversee equity, clinical guidelines and algorithms, research, informatics, and publishing. Ndifreke’s activities, including shared learning and best practices across societies, will empower CMSS and specialty societies to build capacity to enable race-conscious clinical guidelines and algorithms that inform equitable clinical practice and decision-making.