Health Applications of Geographic Information ScienceTuesday, October 9, 2018 - 8:30 AM - 5:00 PMInstructors:
Marilyn Ruiz, Professor, Director, Geographic Information Science and Spatial Epidemiology (GISSA) Lab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (see below for important note)
Imelda K. Moise, Ph.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, FLBenjamin Ghansah, Ph.D Student, University of Miami, Carol Gables, FL
While data availability was once a problem for use in GIS analysis, the opposite is often true today. Geospatial expertise and data availability have both grown quickly in recent years, but there is often a lack of background and experience to develop analyses to make the most of these. Whether you work for a small nonprofit, large government agency, a health department, or private sector firm, the demand to process spatial data and use them for specific analyses that address issues related to health has never been greater. Given new ways to collect, display, and share geospatial data, traditional data sources are much more accessible, and new data sources are being developed across industries. Actionable spatio-temporal data combined with well-structured spatial questions and appropriate analyses are essential for project success.
This full-day workshop will provide ideas from a broad range of geospatial health subjects, and hands-on exercises to help participants to better process spatial data and use them for specific analyses that address issues related to health. Topics will include explanations of tools to measure and assess proximity, spatial association, spatial structures revealed by data, and will emphasize best practices available for integrating data and methods in ways that support analysis and modeling that are outside the capability of simple overlays and visualization of associations. Health topics will include infectious diseases, food environments, and environmental pollution. Technical topics include spatio-temporal cluster identification, techniques to combine multiple sources of data and use them for statistical analysis, and an overview of spatial regression. Workshop participants will have access to realistic datasets and will gain experience with the GeoDa, SaTScan, and the QGIS software. The course is designed for people with a basic understanding of spatial data and some experience with ArcGIS or other GIS software.
Cost: One full-day or half-day workshop is included with full conference registration; $195 if only attending a workshop or adding a second half-day workshop
PLEASE NOTE: Longtime URISA contributor, Marilyn O'Hara Ruiz, was killed in a car accident on Sunday, September 30.
Marilyn was a Medical Geographer in the Epidemiology Division of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois in Urbana. Her research and teaching focus on health, the environment, and the ecology of infectious disease. Recent work has been about vector abundance, weather and its effect on the risk of mosquito-borne illnesses, and the spatial spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. She has also worked with local health departments in the adoption of geospatial technologies and is involved with issues of data sharing and spatial data infrastructure to support the integration of data for improved public health and emergency response.
Marilyn was very involved in URISA's GIS in Health conferences over the years, as chair, frequent presenter, and workshop instructor. She was a lovely individual; an outstanding teacher and mentor to many. She will be missed.
Memorial gifts in Marilyn’s honor may be directed to the University of Illinois Foundation for the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois Foundation at 1305 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801. Please include a note specifying this as a memorial in her name.
