The general public became aware of the deep connection between big data analytics and public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the most casually interested person eagerly shared metrics and dashboards focusing on hospitalization rates, new infections and deaths, and all manner of data that gave people some tangible connection to a wide-reaching pandemic. However, public health and medical practitioners would say that analytics and data-driven decision making have been core to the health industry since even before the dawn of the computing age.
On a recent GovFuture podcast, Dr. Susan Gregurick, Associate Director for Data Science and Director of the Office of Data Science Strategy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shared insights and details on how the NIH is using advanced analytics to drive data-driven decision-making, as well as some of the unique challenges the NIH faces in leveraging advanced analytics in areas related to data privacy and security.
A far reaching plan for data
Dr. Gregurick shares that as part of her role, her office leads the implementation of the NIH strategic plan for data science which works to harness emerging opportunities and advance cutting-edge data science across the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers, focusing on activities such as data interoperability, platform interoperability, data accessibility, data standards and standardization and the reuse of data. They also support the establishment of policies and related privacy and ethics and data sovereignty policies as well as promoting the principles of diversity, equity, inclusivity and accessibility.
Read the full article in Forbes.
CTSI's Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP) team members Dr. Keith Norris and Dr. Alejandra Casillas co-lead the NIH's West Hub of the AIM-AHEAD consortium, the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity. The purpose of the West Hub is to promote community engagement around AI/ML awareness in underserved settings, and knowledge among community health stakeholders. The consortium achieves this by partnering with community-based organizations and safety net health systems in the western areas of AIM-AHEAD. The Western Hub also supports pilot projects with PI’s affiliated with academic and community organizations in the AIM-AHEAD Western region. AIM AHEAD West Hub is thankful for the CTSI Community Engagement and Research Program, which provides administrative support. The AIM AHEAD West Hub Team includes Keith C. Norris, MD, PhD; Alejandra Casillas, MD, MSHS; Susanne Nicholas, MD, MPH, PhD; Arleen Brown, MD, PhD; Douglass Bell, MD, PhD; Alex Bui, PhD; Anders Garlid, PhD; Sinha Satyesh, PhD; Jenny Shen, MD; Christian Cabunag, MPP; Jachael Gardner, MPH.
Image caption: Dr. Susan Gregurick
Image source: NIH
