Tag Archives: Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health

GitHub Beginners in Data Science: Here’s an Easy Way to Start!

If you are an aspiring data scientist, you will need to know how GitHub works. You will probably want to use it for your projects.

GitHub beginners – even in data science – often feel intimidated when starting their GitHub accounts and trying to interact with the web page. Don’t be shy! Catch the highlights from a recent GitHub beginners workshop I held!

Wiley’s Predatory Behavior: My Recent Experience and Recommendations

Predatory publishers of scientific journals engage in unethical behavior, so you should steer clear of them. Until now, I had thought Wiley did not behave like them. But a recent incident made me change my mind.

Wiley’s predatory behavior recently with a colleague’s scientific manuscript makes me want to avoid publishing in their journals. Read about our experience.

AI on the Edge: What it is, and Data Storage Challenges it Poses

AI on the edge refers to doing the AI processing and equations at the site of the object collecting the data.

“AI on the edge” was a new term for me that I learned from Marc Staimer, founder of Dragon Slayer Consulting, who was interviewed in a podcast. Marc explained how AI on the edge poses a data storage problem, and my blog post proposes a solution!

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the ONC?

Before the ONC office was established in 2009, there was no federal oversight of medical record systems.

“What is the ONC?” is what I used to ask before I realized it involves health technology. Although ONC just means “Office of the National Coordinator”, this agency is now known as HealthIT.gov, as I explain in my blog post.

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the SAMHSA?

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA is an agency that separates mental health from physical health.

What does the SAMHSA actually do for mental health and substance abuse patients in the US? The answer is, “nothing directly” – however, indirectly, SAMHSA has had a profound impact on behavioral health patients, and the result has not always been positive, as you can read in my blog post.

Four Levels of Intervention for Public Health: How to Apply This Framework

Four levels of public health interventions should be addressed when dealing with public health problems.

Four levels of intervention is a framework we use in public health to think about how to attack a problem. I explain it and give a few examples of application in my blog post (along with a video).

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the IHS?

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is the federal agency in the United States in charge of reservation health.

“What is the IHS?” is a reasonable question to ask, because there are a few things that are very special about the IHS and its healthcare facilities. At first glance, these special characteristics may seem positive, but they actually have devastating unintended consequences, as I describe in my blog post.

Pie Chart ggplot Style is Surprisingly Hard! Here’s How I Did it

How do you make a pie chart in ggplot2 package in R? It's not that obvious

Pie chart ggplot style is surprisingly hard to make, mainly because ggplot2 did not give us a circle shape to deal with. But I explain how to get around it in my blog pot.

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the HRSA?

Local health departments are funded by HRSA which provides grants to them to help them with community health

“What is the HRSA?” can be answered two ways: with a short answer, and a long answer. The short answer is that it is the agency that funds public health departments in the United States. The long answer, which I unpack in my blog post, is more nuanced, harrowing, and ultimately, depressing.

US Public Health Alphabet Soup Explained: What is the NIH?

The National Institutes of Health is a federal agency that funds health research such as clinical trials

Wondering what we mean by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)? In my blog post, I explain the NIH’s role in appropriating funding for research, and demystify its role in implementing federal priorities.