Geospatial Analysis and Health Outcomes Shared Resource (GHSR)

Areas of focus of the Geospatial Analysis and Health Outcomes Shared Resource (GHSR), led by Dr. Abiodun Oluyomi, include geographic information system (GIS), patient-reported outcomes, community outcomes, and community-engaged research.

Services

The Geospatial Analysis and Health Outcomes Shared Resource (GHSR) provides a variety of services. Consultations and services are provided under three broad technical areas:

• Geographic information system (GIS) - spatial epidemiology
• Patient outcomes (PRO) research
• Community-engaged (CE) research

GIS/Spatial Analysis

The use of these activities by the DLDCCC members and the BCM community enhance grant applications, data analysis, exhibits/reports, and clinical and educational outreach.

Several potential applications include locating likely geographic disparities in patient access to healthcare or in incidence/prevalence of particular disease endpoints; tracking individual exposures (e.g., NOx as a surrogate for ultrafine particulate matter), behaviors (e.g., accelerometer as a measure of physical activity), and/or physiological measures (e.g., heart rate) in real-time using global positioning system (GPS) time-stamped coordinates, mobile health (mHealth) technology.

PRO Research

Facilitate best practices for measuring outcomes derived by self-report, serve as a central resource for state-of-the-science instruments and measurement methods in clinical settings, and provide in-house support services for translation, collection, and analysis of outcomes and survey data. Effort will be particularly directed toward best practices for qualitative and mixed-methods research.

CE Research

Facilitate best practices for measuring outcomes derived from community or neighborhood level data, serve as a central resource for state-of-the-science instruments and measurement methods in community settings, and provide in-house support services for translation, collection, and analysis of outcomes and survey data. Through Community-Based Participatory Research, the collaboration between researchers and community members promotes the identification of local health concerns.

Geospatial Analysis Tasks

Advisory Services

• Provide advice on the GIS (spatially referenced) data and environmental measures to consider while planning studies
• Assess opportunities to connect GIS data to other patient-level information (e.g., in electronic health record systems)
• Provide advice on GIS technical matters that are related to instrument design and use
• Provide advice on the appropriate field data gathering tools for GIS data, e.g., global positioning system, smart devices, pollution sampling/measurement

Operations Services

• Process GIS data that are related to the exposures or outcomes of interest for specific research - (non-chemical stressors (e.g., socioeconomic deprivation, crime, and tobacco retailers)
• Process GIS data that are related to the exposures or outcomes of interest for specific research - (chemical stressors (e.g., air pollution and waste sites)
• Conduct advanced GIS analysis using geospatial analysis toolsets
• Produce maps from spatial data processing/analysis for visualization and stakeholder engagement
• Provide advice on or contribute to the design of scientific presentations, reports, or manuscripts that contain GIS data

Patient Reported health Outcome (PRO)

Advisory Services

• Provide advice on how to design PRO research protocols, including appropriate hypothesis and research question
• Assess opportunities to connect PRO initiatives to projects with a different primary focus (e.g., epigenetics studies)
• Provide advice on PRO research recruitment strategies and assessment plans
• Provide advice and help select the survey instruments that are most appropriate for PRO studies

Operations Services

• Design computer-based questionnaire administration tools for PRO studies
• Offer multilingual translation services for study materials (compliance documents, instruments, etc.)
• Provide expert advice on approaches for scoring PRO instruments
• Conduct qualitative analysis services (focus group discussion, cognitive interviewing)
• Direct/oversee the inclusion of PRO data in statistical models of treatment comparisons, such as different variants of randomized-controlled clinical trials

Community Engagement (CE) Tasks 

Advisory Services 

• Provide advice on how to design CE research protocols, including appropriate hypothesis and research question
• Assess opportunities to connect CE initiatives to projects with a different primary focus (e.g., epigenetics studies)
• Provide advice on CE research recruitment strategies and assessment plans
• Provide advice and help select the survey instruments that are most appropriate for PRO/CE studies

Operations Services

• Design computer-based questionnaire administration tools for CE studies
• Offer multilingual translation services for study materials (compliance documents, instruments, etc.)
• Provide expert advice on approaches for scoring CE instruments
• Conduct qualitative analysis services (focus group discussion, cognitive interviewing)
• Direct/oversee the inclusion of PRO data in statistical models of treatment comparisons, such as different variants of randomized-controlled clinical trials

Fees are calculated based on the characterization of task needs. Please put in a request through iLab or to contact our faculty.