I submitted my draft Findings and Discussions chapter this weekend! I’m now on a rare break from my research project as I await some supervisory feedback. In the meantime, I have LOTS to do. I’ve been working as part of a CIFAR funded research team looking at the impact of COVID-19 in Alberta. That’s a glamourous way of putting it. The reality is I’m gathering secondary data sources that will be used for analysis, monitoring the weekly events surrounding COVID-19 from an Albe

There’s something about seeing the hard, cold numbers globally tracking the coronavirus that’s turned average people into armchair epidemiologists. We’re having conversations (virtually, of course) about how successfully we’re “flattening the curve”and whether we’re doing better or worse than other places. With sports on hiatus, this has become a new kind of game. Yet, there are the vast differences between countries, as well as provinces, states or regions, in how data is ga

Recently, I participated in CIFAR's AI for Health townhall. The purpose of the meeting was to gather feedback on a draft framework that will enable CIFAR to move forward with AI initiatives in healthcare. The results of the townhall meetings, which took place in Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton, will be shared by CIFAR. I won't comment on the specifics of the framework, but I can share some of the themes and big questions coming out of this discussion that require further publi

A month ago, I attended a masterclass with author Candace Savage. It was a primer on historical research and how to use fragments of data – old photos, genealogical records, land titles deeds, newspaper clippings and family keepsakes – to construct a rich narrative history. It was built around Savage’s experience researching her book Strangers in the House which was inspired by photographs, drawings, newspaper clippings and memorabilia that she found inside the wall of her ea

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how's the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?” – David Foster Wallace, This is Water Perhaps you’ve never heard of Frederick Winslow Taylor or the scientific management method known as Taylorism, but it’s increasingly becom

A few months ago, I was enticed by a special offer from 23andMe. I'd been on the fence about genetic testing for some time. Like the millions of people who have taken these tests, I was curious about what my genetic profile had to say about me both from an ancestry and health perspective. However, I've heard several stories about how this data can be shared with third parties. I was also worried about how these findings might impact my eligibility or cost of insurance, despit

I’ve been talking with a lot of different people - pretty much anyone who will listen – about where to focus my research. One piece of advice I received was to think about things that you’re passionate about, especially the things that make you angry. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve encountered a few stories about data collection that fit that description. The first was an article about StatsCan trying to get access to private banking data to use in its data set, then hirin