Hiwot currently works as a Sr. Data Scientist in SAS’ Health and Life Sciences Industry Solutions team where she advises SAS health care clients on how to best leverage SAS software to get the most out of their data driven initiatives. Before joining the health care team, Hiwot worked in SAS’s consulting division where she put her analytics expertise to use by developing visualizations and predictive models to address the division’s pressing business challenges.

Hiwot is passionate about ensuring diverse perspectives are included in the AI and analytics space. She understands that diversity of thought and lived experiences is a powerful tool to bolster the practice of responsible applications of AI and mitigate the risk of biased solutions being built and deployed. Hiwot has served on the leadership council of SAS’s first Black employee resource group – the Black Initiatives Group (BIG) – since its inception, where she leads and participates in efforts to recruit, retain and promote Black talent at SAS.

Prior to joining SAS, Hiwot was a graduate student at North Carolina State University’s Institute for Advanced Analytics. As part of her Master’s practicum, Hiwot lead a team of students in developing a model to predict patients’ risk of sub-optimal diabetes management for UNC Healthcare.

Hiwot holds a MSc. in Analytics from North Carolina State University’s Institute for Advanced Analytics and a BSc. in Economics and Nutritional Sciences from University of Toronto.