The Duke University School of Medicine’s Office of Data Science and Information Technology and Duke AI Health partnered to co-host a virtual symposium on Wednesday, June 24, focused on using data science to combat public health crises. In her opening remarks, School of Medicine Dean Mary E. Klotman said that we are in the midst of two pandemics—COVID-19 and racism. The School of Medicine, of which the DCRI is part, will play an active role in driving solutions to both of these pandemics, and data science is one of the key tools that will be used. The symposium, titled “Public Health Crises of 2020: Battling COVID-19 and Disparities with Data,” featured seven DCRI faculty and data science experts from a range of other Duke entities such as Duke Forge and AI Health. The event also featured speakers external to the University, including two keynote speakers from the NC Department of Health and Human Services, as well as speakers from Change Healthcare and Amazon Web Services Data Exchange. The event, which was delivered in rapid-fire five-minute talks, was hosted and moderated by the DCRI’s Michael Pencina, PhD, Vice Dean for Data Science & Information Technology (pictured left). Other DCRI speakers included Jessilyn Dunn, PhD; Benjamin Goldstein, PhD; Ricardo Henao, PhD; Keith Marsolo, PhD; Susanna Naggie, MD; and DCRI fellow Jedrek Wosik, MD.
