The SDOH & Place Fellow Program

The SDOH & PLACE Fellowship, sponsored by the Healthy Regions & Policies Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a part-time virtual program. It focuses on teaching fellows to develop visualizations related to social determinants of health (SDOH) using human-centered and participatory design principles. Participants also contribute to the design of the SDOH & Place community toolkit.

As a part of this initiative, we also had a call out for Super Users. The HEROP Lab sought participants who regularly use social determinants of health (SDOH) data for research, advocacy, or educational purposes. They aimed to form an "SDOH Super User Group" to understand current practices and challenges in accessing SDOH data, such as socioeconomic, racial, and environmental indicators.

The anticipation has been building, and now the moment has arrived to unveil the talented individuals comprising our 2024 cohort. This dedicated group is poised to embark on a transformative journey, harnessing the power of data visualization to drive positive change in their respective communities.

Meet the Fellows

Fellows will share the final project prototypes at the upcoming SDOH & Place Symposium in Chicago on June 14-15th, 2024. Learn more and apply for one of the spots available at go.illinois.edu/SDOHPlace-Symposium. If accepted, registration and conference meals are free. Some travel stipends may be available for visitors.

Let's dive into the projects that our cohort members will be spearheading:

Beth Beyer

The Technology Alliance

Beth Beyer has dedicated her career to helping communities thrive. She works to empower students, teachers, and parents through the use of technology to enhance experiential learning and extend educational opportunities. (See More)

Beth's project focuses on identifying spaces where communities gather through art and intersect with poor environmental indicators. This asset map will contribute to environmental justice efforts by highlighting areas for intervention and improvement.

Potential App Type: Asset Map

Joseph Asumah Braimah

Lawrence University; Department of Public Health

Dr. Joseph A. Braimah is a health geographer and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. He has an interdisciplinary research interest that focuses broadly on the health and wellbeing of marginalized and structurally exposed populations in the global north and global south. (See More)

Joseph's project will highlight the home maintenance service needs of older individuals in Upstate New York and how these needs affect their ability to age in place.

Potential App Type: To Be Determined (TBD)

Peter Chen

University of Connecticut; Department of GIScience

Dr. Xiang "Peter" Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Connecticut. Peter received his Ph.D. in Geography from The Ohio State University. His research interests are focused on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and community health. (See More)

Peter's project involves mapping an innovative mobility-based retail food environment (RFE) index within a human-centered design (HCD) framework, aiming to provide insights into access to healthy food options.

Potential App Type: Data Dashboard

Jessica Ann Davis

University of Pittsburgh; School of Medicine

Jessica A. Davis, PhD, RN, CCRN-K, IBCLC is a postdoctoral scholar in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. She has extensive experience caring for diverse populations of newborns and their families through her time as a nurse and lactation consultant at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital, Midwife Center for Birth and Women’s Health, and the Pacify tele-lactation network. (See More)

Jessica's project aims to create healthy food and lactation support resource maps for a county in PA. Additionally, she plans to develop a story map advocating for enhanced equitable lactation support for families receiving care at a local children's hospital.

Potential App Type: Asset/Story Map

Tyler Gorham

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Tyler is a health and data geek with a calling to use his research to promote health equity and improve health outcomes for all children. Working alongside a wide range of clinical and research collaborators as a Data Scientist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, his work spans spatial data science, clinical prediction model development, and public health research.

Tyler's project involves conducting a historic policy inventory and Opportunity Mapping exercise of the Linden neighborhood in Columbus, OH. Additionally, he will assist in developing a story map to share the findings with the community, aiming to raise awareness and promote informed decision-making.

Potential App Type: Story Map

Amy Kryston

Partners in Health

Amy Kryston is a public health practitioner and researcher determined to alleviate the systemic marginalization of communities in the United States and globally. In her role with PIH, she assists in the evaluation of community health worker (CHW) integration into federally qualified health centers and retrospective evaluation of CHW programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. (See More)

Amy's project involves creating a resource map for Montgomery, AL, outlining available resources and their proximity to specific locations. This asset map will serve as a valuable tool for enhancing access to essential services within the community.

Potential App Type: Asset Map

Latrice Landry

University of Pennsylvania; Department of Genetics

Latrice Landry is an instructor specializing in developing systems-based approaches to achieving equitable translation of precision medicine and precision public health at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She received both her master's degree in policy and her PhD in Nutrition from Tufts University. (See More)

Latrice aims to build a place-based visualization demonstrating the relationship between the built environment, select social determinants of health, and COVID-19 outcomes in communities.

Potential App Type: Asset/Thematic Map

Alexander Michels

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Alex Michels is a PhD student studying Spatial Informatics under Dr. Shaowen Wang at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is currently a research assistant at the CyberGIS Center for Advanced Digital and Spatial Studies and will be on the job market in Fall 2024. Alex is passionate about access & cyberGIS meaning: (1) using cyberGIS to explore, model, and analyze spatial patterns and systems of inaccessibility and inequity and (2) making cyberGIS tools and technology accessible to all. (See More)

Alexander's project aims to leverage machine learning techniques and Uber Movement data to generate synthetic mobility datasets. The focus will be on creating a dashboard that evaluates differences in place-based equity and social determinants of health (SDOH) analyses, comparing synthetic travel-time data with current methods.

Potential App Type: Data Dashboard

Sarah Nelson

University of Nebraska at Omaha; Department of Geography & Geology

Sarah Nelson is an Assistant Professor in health geography at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, with expertise in aging, health care services, and the social determinants of health. She works most often with Indigenous communities and populations that have experienced being underserved in health care and policy, emphasizing community engagement and collaboration in research and teaching, and community- and participant-led research priorities in choosing and designing research projects. (See More)

Sarah's project aims to develop a public website and interactive map that NUIHC clients and healthcare providers can utilize to find and access substance use and mental health services serving Indigenous clients.

Potential App Type: Asset Map

Kennedy Patterson

University of Chicago; Department of Sociology

Kennedy Patterson is a Sociology Master's Student within the MAPSS Program at the University of Chicago. She also works as a research assistant within the “UChicago Justice Project” Lab under the direction of Dr. Robert Vargas, where she digitalizes, cleans, and analyzes archival records of Chicago homicides, in pursuit of curating the first analysis of Chicago homicides from 1940-1964. (See More)

Kennedy's project will synthesize Cook County Medical Examiner's Office death records to shed light on violence experienced by unhoused Black women and contribute to addressing the lack of data concerning unhoused deaths in Chicago.

Potential App Type: To Be Determined (TBD)

Sonia Monet Saxon

University of Illinois Chicago

Sonia is an advocate for environmental justice and health equity focused on community engagement to achieve broader systemic changes. Sonia lives in Chicago and works with the grassroots organizations Neighbors for Environmental Justice and Chicago’s Coalition to End Sacrifice Zones. She is also pursuing a PhD in Anthropology and a Master’s in Public Health from the Environmental and Occupational Health Science division at the University of Illinois Chicago. (See More)

Sonia's project utilizes story maps to bring visibility to the lived experiences of air pollution in McKinley Park, Chicago. By highlighting these experiences, the project seeks to advocate for environmental justice in affected communities.

Potential App Type: Story Map

Sarah Scott

University of Pittsburgh

Sarah E. Scott, MPH (she/her) is a Graduate Student Researcher for the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently obtaining her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Ms. Scott utilizes mixed methods to explore the intersection of gender-based violence, social determinants of health, and women’s health. (See More)

Sarah's project involves creating an interactive asset map detailing resources for intimate partner violence and human trafficking survivors in Allegheny County. This map aims to provide crucial information and support for those in need.

Potential App Type: Asset Map

Madeline Smith-Johnson

Rice University; Department of Sociology

Madeline Smith-Johnson is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Rice University, where they pilot research projects examining the health and social relationships of transgender adults in the United States. They hold a Master of Philosophy in Sociology from the University of Cambridge and a Master of Arts in Sociology from Rice University. Madeline is committed to building comprehensive and creative measures of multilevel gendered stigma to specify stigma’s impact on population health. (See More)

Madeline's project involves creating an interactive map of the U.S. that allows users to explore how state-level rates of chronic conditions, disability, self-rated health, and mental health outcomes correlate with measures of structural sexism and anti-LGBT stigma.

Potential App Type: Data Dashboard

Makiya Thomas

Champaign Urbana Public Health District

Makiya Thomas was born and raised in Decatur, IL. She graduated high school from Eisenhower High School. She later went off to college and received her bachelor's and two master's degrees while attending Eastern Illinois University. Makiya has also served in the Illinois Army National Guard for the past 9 years. While in the Army, she’s served as a Platoon Leader, Operations Officer in Charge while being deployed, and currently serves as a Headquarters Commander. Makiya currently works as a DEI Specialist for the Public Health District of Champaign where she lives with her beauty baby boy named Judah.

Makiya's project aims to educate women on the alarming rates of maternal morbidity and mortality through a story/asset map, providing them with resources available to address these issues.

Potential App Type: Story/Asset Map

Wei Tu

Georgia Southern University; School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability

Dr. Tu is a professor of Geography and Geographic Information Science, School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability and a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Health Logistics & Analytics (INLA). Dr. Tu’s research focuses on how and to what extent place and space influenced health outcomes, particularly the impacts of social determinants on maternal and child health. Dr. Tu uses a variety of statistical models and Geographic Information Systems to analyze and visualize geospatial health data, with an overarching goal of reducing health disparity, promoting community health, and improving population health.

Wei's project aims to develop a prototype application to visualize the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and adverse birth outcomes at the county and census tract levels in Georgia. This visualization will provide valuable insights into disparities in birth outcomes and inform targeted interventions.

Potential App Type: Data Dashboard

Looking Forward

As we introduce our 2024 cohort, we're inspired by the passion and commitment of each member to address pressing challenges in their communities. From leveraging cutting-edge technology to amplifying marginalized voices, these projects embody the spirit of innovation and social impact.

As the cohort embarks on their journey, we eagerly anticipate the transformative outcomes that will emerge from their dedication and collaboration. Together, they represent a powerful force for positive change, driving us closer to a future where health equity is a reality for all.

Join us in celebrating this remarkable cohort and stay tuned for updates on their progress as they embark on their transformative journey.