What is a “café”?
As part of their new 10-year strategic plan, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is offering funding support for events called “Cafés”. These gatherings aim to foster open discussions between the public and health researchers on topics that matter to the community. At these cafés, community members can connect with researchers to ask questions about their specific research topics, and share their views on where future research should focus.
Our café will delve into the emerging field of using data gathered from smartphones for public health research. This café will feature brief presentations by experts in mobile phone data research, followed by an open Q&A. Both in-person and online attendees are encouraged to share their thoughts, questions, and concerns, contributing to the advancement of public health research methods.
Event Organizers
Mir Sanim Al Mamun
Mir is a recent Master of Public Health graduate from Queen's University. Upon moving to Canada, he refocused his career from clinical field to public health. He is currently working in research involving team-based healthcare models and aspires to advance his career in related fields. Angel and Mir recently received the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Café Scientifique grant to organize a public outreach event on Mobility Data.
Angel Zhou
Angel is a second year Master of Science in Public Health Sciences student, specializing in Epidemiology, at Queen's University. Angel comes from a background of oncology clinical trials, and her research interest centres around evaluating cancer drug policy approvals and unfair barriers to healthcare access. Angel is passionate about open communication with the general public regarding the use and dissemination of research data.
Panelists
Christopher Allison
Chris Allison is the Director General of Data Management, Innovation and Analysis and Chief Data Officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada. Chris has worked in government for over 22 years across operations, policing, immigration, national security, policy, major projects, air travel, open source, data, development and leadership. He is a self-driven continuous learner who is passionate about people, network analytics and systems - seeing the connections between our people, our environments, our systems and our organizations.
During the Covid-19 pandemic one of Chris’ teams used de-identified and aggregated mobility data to compare population movement patterns to better understand the general uptake of public health measures enacted at the provincial or federal levels
During the Covid-19 pandemic one of Chris’ teams used de-identified and aggregated mobility data to compare population movement patterns to better understand the general uptake of public health measures enacted at the provincial or federal levels
Sahar Saeed, PhD
Dr. Sahar Saeed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen's University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of policy evaluation, health outcome disparities, and knowledge translation. As an epidemiologist and health services researcher, Sahar leverages innovative methods and data to study population-level health inequalities of marginalized and racialized populations, including people living with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, COVID-19 and chronic liver diseases. Dr. Saeed's CIHR-funded research focuses on how mobility data can be used for public health decision-making. She has recently published how mobility data can be used to predict SARS-CoV-2 infections following stay at home orders. Currently, Dr. Saeed is leading projects on the scope and considerations of using mobility data for epidemiologists.
Martin French, PhD
Dr. Martin French is an Associate Professor with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University (Montreal, QC). His research examines the social dimensions of technology with an empirical focus on communications & information technology (CIT). It emphasizes the broader social and political contexts of CIT, focusing especially on risk, surveillance, privacy, and social justice. In 2022, Dr. French submitted a brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics regarding the Public Health Agency of Canada's mobility tracking initiative as it developed in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The brief discussed the question of whether some groups might experience intensified risk and harm as a result of mobility tracking for public health; it recommended stronger data protections for, as well as more community engagement on, mobility tracking for public health.