Author: Marynia

• December 2, 2022

  Seeking SDOH & Geography PhD Students in 2023-2024

  I’m recruiting 1 or 2 new PhD students to start in Fall 2023 who are interested in the structural determinants of health; how social and spatial networks influence health outcomes; and/or developing spatial infrastructures for advancing environmental justice applications. PhD positions are funded, with an expected ~4 years to graduation.
• November 30, 2022

  New RWJF Grant Awarded to Support SDOH Data Discovery & Empower Community Practice

  The Health Regions & Policies Lab was recently awarded $1.4 million over the next two years to work on a new project to advance health equity with improved social determinant of health (SDOH) data discovery and community practice tools for health researchers, policymakers, and community organizations
• November 21, 2022

  Call for Book Chapter Proposals for Place & the Social-Spatial Determinants of Health

  We invite chapter proposals on the social-spatial determinants of health for a new text, a volume edited by Drs. Kolak and Moise, to be published in early 2024 by Springer Nature. The book, tentatively entitled Place & the Social-Spatial Determinants of Health, will explore how a spatial perspective enriches our view of the Social Determinants…
• April 22, 2022

  ChiVes Data Collaborative: Uncovering the Nature of Chicago’s Environment

  Chicago’s urban environment has profound impacts on the health of communities and individuals. A handful of key metrics―tree cover, air pollution estimates, heat island effects, traffic volumes, and social vulnerability index― help to reveal where in the city people face particular challenges as we work towards a healthier Chicago. With an eye toward the sustainable…
• April 19, 2022

  Does Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Match Community Vulnerability?

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, the disruption and shortage of treatment options for people with opioid use disorder (OUD) has been linked to significantly higher rates of overdose deaths across the country. How might an improved understanding of current community-level availability of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) inform future responses to pandemics or natural disasters…
• March 24, 2022

  Listen: Marketplace highlights new research on internet access

  Cross-posted from Atlas Insights: The US Covid Atlas blog.  The nationally syndicated radio show and podcast Marketplace Tech interviewed postdoctoral scholar and US Covid Atlas co-lead Dr. Qinyun Lin (pictured above) this week on our latest research exploring the social determinants of health associated with higher COVID-19 mortality across different regions and communities. Published in the journal JAMA Network…
• March 4, 2022

  Assessment of Structural Barriers and Racial Group Disparities of COVID-19 Mortality

  COVID-19 highlights disparities in healthcare access & challenges facing US counties. Our team’s article in JAMA Network Open identifies relationships between structural barriers & racial/ethnic disparities of COVID mortality using spatial analysis. Data for the whole country available by race and age is at the regional scale – not every state provides race and age…
• February 28, 2022

  Big Data, Government Policy and Defeating COVID

  This month, Dr. Kolak of HEROP connected with leading scholars to discuss how data can be used to inform policy to defeat COVID, the emerging wave in Hong Kong, what happened in the US via the Covid Atlas, & brainstorming international, evidence-based cooperations to combat pandemics. More information about the talk can be found at…
• January 28, 2022

  New RAs Join the Lab on Opioid Environment, Redlining Research Projects

  The Healthy Regions & Policies Lab is thrilled to welcome three new RAs and five returning RAs for the Winter 2022 term. HEROP Research Assistants (RAs) are UChicago students from multidisciplinary academic and professional backgrounds that have taken coursework in and are passionate about applying spatial analysis and GIScience to real-world applications. RAs work closely…
• October 26, 2021

  New Research on Dimensions of Uncertainty: A Spatiotemporal View of Five COVID-19 Datasets

  Research scientists from the US COVID Atlas team at the Healthy Regions & Policies Lab (HEROP) are pleased to share their new article, Dimensions of Uncertainty: A Spatiotemporal View of Five COVID-19 Datasets, which was published this week in the journal Cartography and Geographic Information Sciences. Dylan Halpern, Qinyun Lin, and Marynia Kolak from HEROP…