PLENARY SESSION I, OPTIMIZING PREVENTION THROUGH INNOVATIVE USE OF BIG DATA TO REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES

In the opening plenary of SPR's 2018 annual meeting, three researcher present innovative uses of of "big data" designed to help understand and reduce health disparities. Dr. Brenda Curtis, from University of Pennsylvania, conducts research on big data generated from social networking sites and on technology-based interventions that target substance use disorders. She will present on a study in which she used Twitter social media language, in combination with national survey and census data, to predict counties with high and low excessive drinking. Dr. Desmond Patton, from Columbia University, investigates community violence and the ways in which youth and young adults of color navigate violence in their communities and on social media platforms. He will present on the development of community-based, computational tools to detect responses to loss and acts of aggression on Twitter among gang-involved youth in Chicago. Dr. Eric Rice, from the University of Southern California Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society, specializes in social network science and theory and community-based research to seek novel solutions to major social problems such as homelessness and HIV. He will prevent on a series of algorithms which he field tested to improve HIV prevention interactions for homeless youth.

Presenters:

Eric Rice, PhD, University of Southern California, Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work

Desmond Patton, PhD, Columbia University, School of Social Work

Brenda Curtis, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine

Chair: Stephanie Lanza, PhD, Pennsylvania State University

Planning Committee: Laura Griner Hill, PhD, (chair), Thomas Dishion, PhD, Arizona State University, Stephanie Lanza, PhD, Pennsylvania State University, Greta Massetti, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Belinda Sims, PhD, National Institute on Drug Abuse