Duke Center for Health Informatics: Geospatial Data Analysis Applications in Support of Health Informatics

Seminar Abstract: Geography is the study of 'where' phenomena are located across the surface of the earth and how their location ultimately impacts the people around these phenomena. At the local level, geographers visualize spatial relationships to explore health disparities, access to healthy food, crime rates and their relationships to tangible metrics used to express community vitality such as education attainment, income and home ownership for the sake of making informed decisions. A Geographic Information System (GIS) serves as a powerful tool to examine quantitative spatial relationships in the digital environment. However, the most expensive components of a GIS are the resources that go into creating and cataloging the data that can be visualized and analyzed. While many only see the output of GIS data and analysis in the form of maps, resources must be dedicated to creating high-quality data and determining how these data can be analyzed. This talk will entail data sources, techniques and applications to support data-informed decision making as applied to the field of health informatics. Instructor Biosketch: Tim Mulrooney is a Professor in the Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences at North Carolina Central University. He is a geographer, with a focus on GIS (Geographic Information System) technologies and the application of GIS technologies to environmentally and socially relevant phenomena such as food deserts, COVID-19 mapping, disproportionate access to resources and data quality parameters that entail high-quality research. As an educator, he works hard to facilitate data-driven decision making through the latest technology and the projects he presents in his classes. There are copious amounts of data on which we make decisions, and the ability to download, import, create, analyze, map and render data in all forms is absolutely essential in the workforce. Zoom Meeting Information: https://duke.zoom.us/j/2186100752?pwd=V21yelR5TS84TXRaKzZEYktYaGE4UT09 Meeting number (access code): 218 610 0752, Meeting password: 950986