Data for Health

Data for Health topic

Racism Narratives in Medical Literature

Systemic racism is a driving factor in unequal health outcomes, but it is rarely the subject of study in top medical journals (see a 2021 analysis by Krieger et al.). This project, a collaboration between the UC Berkeley D-Lab and the American Medical Association's Center for Health Equity, aims to measure progress in acknowledging, studying, & dismantling racism by creating tools to track racism-related narratives in influential medical research.

Data for Health

Data for Health Summary

Caroline Figueroa, MD, Ph.D.

Research Fellow, Digital Health Social Justice Project Lead
School of Social Welfare
Digital Health Social Justice

Caroline Figueroa, MD Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare. She obtained her MD degree and Ph.D. degree at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Her Ph.D. research took place at the University of Amsterdam and at the University of Oxford, where she studied cognitive and neurobiological vulnerability factors for recurrence of depression in patients remitted from Major Depressive Disorder. Current research interest is on digital interventions for depression, with an emphasis on developing cutting-edge innovations that tailor to the needs of...

Alison Victoria White

Changemaker Technology Project
Digital Health Social Justice

Alison (she/her) is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and minors in Data Science and Journalism. She is interested in precision medicine and the intersection of computer science, data science, and the fields of neuroscience and psychopathology. She now works as a Research Coordinator in Dr. Ian Gotlib's Stanford Neurodevelopment, Affect and Psychopathology Lab. In the past, she served as a Research Assistant in labs at UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford in the areas of computational psychiatry, developmental psychopathology, and digital health. She...

Frank Hidalgo Ruiz

Data Science Fellow
Chemistry

I am currently a 5th-year Chemical Biology Ph.D. student. My research focuses on understanding the mechanism by which mutations in a protein called Ras lead to tumorigenesis. More specifically, I aim to integrate high-throughput mutagenesis, coevolutionary analysis, and machine learning algorithms to generate a predictive model. Over the last year, I have built a Python package to process, analyze, and visualize Next Generation Sequencing datasets. I love collaborating across research fields and sharing my passion for data science.

Michael Sholinbeck

Public Health Librarian
Bioscience, Natural Resources & Public Health Library

Michael has worked at the UC Berkeley Library since 2001, and is currently the Public Health Librarian and Liaison to the School of Optometry at the Bioscience, Natural Resources & Public Health Library. Michael coordinates public health instruction at the library, and is responsible for the public health collection. Michael has a MLIS from San Jose State University, an MS in Geography from Oregon State University, and a BA in Geography from UC Berkeley. When not at work he lives out his fantasy of being a rock and roll drummer.

Spooky Microbiomes and the Curse of Dimensionality

October 25, 2021
Sean Perez

Microbiomes are all the rage today and this trendiness is clear with the Human Microbiome Market predicted to be valued at more than 1 billion dollars by the year 2027 (up from 376 million in 2019).

With studies showing that our microbial community is associated with health outcomes, from regulating our brain chemistry and behaviors...

Working with Patient Data

October 12, 2021
Eileen Cahill

I’ve always been interested in biological information and human health while in more recent years I’ve developed a narrower interest in privacy concerns regarding patient data. When it comes to working with patient health data, I’ve realized a human-centered approach is vital. The question is, which human perspective do we empathize with? There are multiple stakeholders that handle patient data, including the patient, medical professionals, the data managers and systems professionals, the government, and private entities. Each stakeholder has their own set of interests,...

We Are Working On Digital Health Social Justice: Here’s Why.

December 1, 2020
Caroline Figueroa

If you have ever used a mobile app to track your exercise, train in mindfulness, or collect diet tips, you may have noticed an overwhelming number of apps to choose from.

In 2017, app stores included around 300,000 health and wellness apps, such as meditation or fitness apps. Approximately 200 new apps surfaced daily. In 2020, there are almost 50,000 medical apps. These apps...