Brief description of the organization
Synod is an early-stage Canadian SaaS company that creates ethical AI software for healthcare. Biases in healthcare datasets, whether implicit or systemic, have tangible consequences, influencing diagnosis, triage, medication, and care planning. These biases can cause disparities in patient treatment and outcomes, as well as fall short of institutional and regulatory compliance standards.
Problem area
Biases in healthcare datasets, whether implicit or systemic, have tangible consequences, influencing diagnosis, triage, medication, and care planning. These biases can cause disparities in patient treatment and outcomes, as well as fall short of institutional and regulatory compliance standards. To address this, SynodIntellicare offers a suite of Ethical AI tools, including the Data Diversity & Fairness Auditor (DDFA), which helps identify and mitigate these biases by detecting disparities across race, gender, socioeconomic status, and geography. By integrating fairness directly into the source code of healthcare decision-making, we can promote more equitable and effective care for all patients, making the healthcare system more responsive and fair regardless of circumstances or background.
Main objectives
We’re building the Data Diversity & Fairness Auditor (DDFA), a cloud-based tool that audits hospital datasets for bias, explains its clinical impact, and recommends fixes. In minutes, DDFA:
- Scans EHR or claims data for hidden bias.
- Shows how those gaps could skew any AI model.
- Suggests fixes and generates an audit-ready report.
Why this matters: AI-driven decisions can only be as fair as the data feeding them. By making fairness the first step, Synod gives hospitals a trusted foundation for safe, equitable care.
Scope of work
- A joint landscape study on the state of Ethical AI.
- Determine the novelty and relevance of algorithms and help design/create algorithms if existing ones do not exist.
- Develop the DDFA MVP as the starting point for commercializing a suite of Ethical AI tools.
- Enable publication of academically rigorous articles showcasing Synod’s thought leadership and expertise.
Deliverables
- Landscape Review (PDF or Web)
- Stakeholder Requirements Analysis
- Patient Impact Case Studies
- Problem Briefings (Slide Decks)
- Survey Tools & Interview Reports
- Ethical Risk Framework
Team meeting frequency
Weekly
Skills and training required
- AI Developer / Data Scientist — Python, fairness toolkits, ML modeling, AIF360/Fairlearn, bias metrics, statistical rigor
- UX/UI Engineer — Health tech design, clinician usability testing, accessibility, user feedback integration
- Clinical Researcher — TCPS2 certification, qualitative analysis, stakeholder co-design methods, equity frameworks
- Health Policy / Compliance Analyst — Regulatory knowledge (AIDA, FDA), AI transparency frameworks, risk documentation, governance communication
- Product / Project Manager — Roadmapping, stakeholder comms, problem scoping, ethics-in-tech literacy, presentation development
Resources required
- Human — Faculty advisor, clinician collaborator, Synod mentor, ethics officer
- Technical — Python, Jupyter, cloud credits, AIF360, GitHub
- Data — MIMIC-III, Synthea, DDFA sample data, synthetic data via SEDLP
- Ethics & Policy — TCPS2 certification, data governance approvals, REB templates
- Academic Support — Access to journals, library research help, writing center
- Project Infrastructure — Project charter, midterm/final report templates, demo presentation tools
- Technical Docs — MVP scope, sample outputs, APIs, fairness metric examples
- Data / Models — Synthetic datasets, demo-ready models, bias case studies
- Mentorship — Kickoff call, regular check-ins, Slack/email channel
- Process Support — Feedback rubrics, demo presentation structure
- Comms & Branding — Logo files, slide templates, branding toolkit
- Other resources will be determined by the project team at the planning stage.
NDA or a commercialization agreement for this project?
Yes