Legacies

I am a Data Scientist who is interested in using data mining, analytics, and computation to solve challenges in the real world. I have experience in the healthcare and finance space. Much of my work focuses on linking disparate domains and types of data to improve the performance of computational models, predominantly machine learning models. Here’s what I’m up to!

Mert Edali received his B.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering from Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, in 2011. Later, he joined the Department of Industrial Engineering at Bogazici University as a master’s student and received his M.Sc. degree in 2014. He received his Ph.D. degree from the same department in 2019. Prior to joining CCHE, he has been working as a research assistant and lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Yildiz Technical University since 2013. His main research interests include agent-based modeling, system dynamics, simulation model analysis, and machine learning..

Dr Babak Mahdavi Ardestani is Research Fellow within Social Sciences at the University of Southampton. My research interests transcend traditional boundaries in the fields of computer science, engineering, geography and social sciences. I am currently involved in the EPSRC Care Life Cycle project – a multidisciplinary project which brings together researchers from Social Sciences, Complexity Science, Operational Research and Management Science.. Here’s what I’m up to!

Maria Pyra, Howard Brown’s Senior Epidemiologist, received her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and worked at the Women’s Interagency HIV Study before earning her PhD at the University of Washington. Her work focuses on sexual and reproductive health. Currently, her research is on improving PrEP uptake and use. Before getting into Public Health, Maria was a high school science teacher and worked for Habitat for Humanity. She lives with her wife, 4-year old daughter, and rescue pup in Oak Park. Here’s what I’m up to!

Dr. Chen (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from Emory University and a master’s degree in Epidemiology from the National Taiwan University. Dr. Chen is a behavioral scientist and her research interests include HIV risk and prevention, substance use, network epidemiology, and place-based multilevel research. She was a past ORISE research fellow with the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination at the University of Chicago and the Spatial Epidemiology Lab at Columbia University. Dr. Chen teaches Health Research Methods I and Epidemiology. Here’s what I’m up to!

Lindsay Young is an assistant professor of health communication and communication networks at USC Annenberg. Her research employs social-network and critical perspectives to identify, characterize, and interrogate the social contexts that contribute to and/or facilitate health disparities, access to critical heal resources, and health behavior change in marginalized, resource-restricted communities. She has a particular interest in the contextual factors that affect HIV-prevention engagement among young sexual-minority men of color. To these ends, she applies a rich computational toolkit that includes stochastic network modeling, semantic network mapping, computational text analysis and predictive modeling.  Here’s what I’m up to!

My passion for the marine sciences began in high school when I had the opportunity to participate in an educational program at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. This amazing experience sparked my interest in Marine Biology and Conservation and started me on the path towards becoming a scientist. Following my passion for science, I received my BSc in Biology and went on to pursue a PhD in Microbial Ecology, both at Concordia University. During my graduate studies, I am focusing on Arctic ecosystems, which gave me the opportunity to conduct research in the Arctic Ocean both on CCGS Louis S. St.-Laurent, Canada’s largest icebreaker, and at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Nunavut. My research expeditions allowed me to witness the dramatic effects of climate change to Arctic ecosystems first hand. They also gave me the opportunity to have meaningful discussions with members of Northern communities about how climate change is directly affecting their ways of life. These exchanges changed my outlook on how science can inform policy, which ultimately inspired me to redirect my career path towards science policy. I have been using my scientific education to inform policies within the Canadian government as a policy analyst with Natural Resources Canada. Here’s what I’m up to!

I am a computational epidemiologist and statistician in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health. I am core faculty at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies.  Here’s what I’m up to!

Lance Keene is an Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Dr. Keene’s research and teaching focus on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Dr. Keene’s primary research interest includes the sexual and behavioral health of adolescent and young adult sexual minority men of color. Additionally, his research investigates the impact of inequality on this population and seeks to improve their life opportunities. Dr. Keene’s long-term career objective is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate evidence-based interventions to reduce sexual risk behavior, substance misuse, and improve life chances of racial and sexual minority youth and young adults. Here’s what I’m up to!