In the US, studies show that breast cancer care is not equal, with Black women being 42% more likely to face mortality when compared to White women. A key contributor to this disparity is the unconscious bias among healthcare providers. But little has been done to change this reality. We wanted to make doctors aware of this disparity and help open their eyes to any blind spots and procedural issues that could be unknowingly perpetuating the problem.

Although we see racial disparities in breast cancer care in the news, the issue has persisted and has not been taken seriously by the medical community.

This inequality should never be ignored.

Armed with hard-hitting facts about the biases Black women face, raw and bold portraits, and digital storytelling, we set out to create an (augmented) reality check that forced doctors to face racial inequities in breast cancer care.

Our strategy started with auditing the most relevant scientific studies to establish an evidence-based baseline for understanding inequality in breast cancer care for Black women. We then gathered poignant statistics that paint the accurate yet disturbing lack of racial/ethnic equity present in the American healthcare system. These statistics, when translated into narrative claims, helped our target audience understand how pressing the need to improve truly is.

Our target audience was healthcare providers: doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. Because doctors tend to fact-check any claims, it’s essential for them to be presented with content that's well substantiated by credible sources.

We asked several hospitals to display our campaign in their lobbies; however, they all declined or dismissed the request. So, our approach changed from indoors to outdoors: we placed the campaign right outside hospital doors on bus shelters that dotted the commuting lines hospital employees were likely to travel.

Our campaign featured women who were negatively affected by discrimination in their breast cancer care. The photography depicts the women with the inequality symbol painted across their breasts in white – highlighting the disparity in outcomes between white women and Black women. Scanning a QR code on the poster activates an AR experience with hard-hitting facts about the biases Black women face, and then takes users to a microsite where they can learn even more, sign up for Unconscious Bias training, and obtain important resources.

The campaign launched in the month of February/'23 to coincide with Black History Month in the US and ran until the end of March/'23 — which ironically, was also Women's History Month. We placed the campaign in over 100 bus shelters in high-traffic areas near hospitals in the broader NYC area, where hospital employees were likely to travel.

As a result, over 2158 healthcare providers interacted with the campaign and 27 hospitals nationwide are now implementing the Unconscious Bias training in their curriculum. Although there is still a lot of work to be done, the Chrysalis Initiative refused to give up or be ignored.