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[Research]

I’m a computational health scientist, working between clinical informatics and epidemiology.

On the clinical side, I apply causal inference, statistical learning, and geospatial analysis to large-scale clinical, demographic, and geographic data. This includes comparative effectiveness research: randomized and pragmatic trials where feasible, target trial emulation where a trial is not, and implementation science to carry the evidence into practice.

On the population health side, I combine field epidemiology methods with survey data, syndromic surveillance, and mobility data for humanitarian emergency response, in the war in Syria, the 2018 Kerala floods, the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, and climate-driven displacement in coastal North Carolina.

My dissertation links spatiotemporal climate data with individual-level health data, and uses the linked records to quantify the cumulative burden of climate extremes on population displacement, disease, and death, with movement as the pathway connecting exposure to health.

As a Graduate Research Assistant with Dr. Emily Pfaff, I apply causal inference within a target trial framework to assess the comparative effectiveness of treatments in national multi-site EHR data. The same work applies statistical learning for automated cohort identification and computable phenotyping.

With Dr. Barbara Entwisle at the Carolina Population Center, I study what electronic health record address histories can measure about residential mobility, including movement driven by displacement.

projects

United States, 9 projectsChad, 1 projectEl Salvador, 1 projectSenegal, 1 projectMali, 1 projectNiger, 1 projectNigeria, 1 projectGuinea, 1 projectBurkina Faso, 1 projectLebanon, 1 projectIndia, 4 projectsBangladesh, 1 projectNepal, 1 projectSyria, 1 projectTurkey, 1 project
Active
2024

Residential Mobility in Electronic Health Records

Evaluating longitudinal patient address histories in EHRs as a population-scale source of data on residential mobility, and their implications for spatial health inequity.

geospatial analysis statistical learning
2024

Measuring Patient Data Density in EHRs to Understand Bias

The EHR Density Index (EDI), a covariate that quantifies how far a patient's documentation deviates from that of clinically similar patients, developed and validated on approximately 25,000 UNC Health patients as an adjustment for documentation-density bias in EHR studies.

statistical learning
2023

Concept Rollups for OMOP Data

A method that aggregates granular OMOP clinical concepts into interpretable, TF-IDF-weighted groups to support phenotyping and analysis with high-dimensional EHR data.

statistical learning
Past (10)
2021

National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C) and NIH RECOVER

Long COVID research in the National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C, formerly the National COVID Cohort Collaborative) and NIH RECOVER, using harmonized multi-site EHR data. Contributions include machine-learning phenotyping, ICD-10-based characterization, and target trial emulations of antiviral treatment.

statistical learning causal inference
2020

CrisisReady

A research initiative on data and methods for equitable crisis response; I worked on serosurveillance methods, including how geographically skewed recruitment biases COVID-19 seroprevalence estimates.

field epidemiology geospatial analysis
2020

COVID-19 Mobility Data Network

A multi-institution network using aggregated, privacy-preserving mobility data to track population movement and inform COVID-19 response planning.

geospatial analysis
2020

Migration Flows and Technology (IOM)

An analysis of the International Organization for Migration's Flow Monitoring Survey data on migration across West and Central Africa, and the role of digital technology in transnational migration.

geospatial analysis
2020

India Digital Health Network

A Harvard research-and-policy collaborative on interoperable digital health systems for India; I worked on human-centered design for mHealth tools and on digital-health regulatory frameworks.

policy & implementation
2019

The Kerala Flood Impact Ascertainment Study

A field assessment of the health and displacement consequences of the 2018 Kerala floods, conducted with the Government of Kerala and the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute.

field epidemiology geospatial analysis
2018

Distress Migration: The Rohingya

A rapid-assessment household survey of Rohingya refugees and host families in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, documenting health and displacement needs.

field epidemiology
2017

Syria: Health in Conflict

Documenting the effects of the Syrian conflict on population morbidity and mortality, as part of the Lancet Commission on Syria.

field epidemiology
2012

Global Oral Health and Nutrition

Community-based studies of child oral health and undernutrition in El Salvador, India, and Nepal, linking infant feeding and dietary practices to severe tooth decay and malnutrition in young children.

field epidemiology