Digital Public Health Seminar Series

We are hosting a series of workshops on Digital Public Health this May through July. The seminar series will consist of 4 modules. As a participant, you will have an opportunity to actively interact with speakers from across the world and engage with key concepts through scenarios based on the speakers’ real-world experiences. Find information and registration link for each session below.

Session 1

May 22, 2024, 12 – 3 PM PDT

Digital Public Health – What is it, and how does it affect public health practice?

Please click here to sign up.

Summary:

The acceleration of digital transformation of public health and society in general has implications for public health practice. “Digital public health” has been used in different ways to describe practice changes in public health that are being made to leverage digital technologies in the field and respond to public health challenges resulting from the broader digital transformation in society. Some of these challenges include escalating misinformation and disinformation amplified through digital media and the role of digital determinants of health on public health outcomes. In this session, participants will have interactive discussions with speakers from BC and Europe who have researched and practiced digital public health. The interactive discussions will enable participants to recognize the role of digital public health in modern practice, consider the implications of digital public health in their own practice and consider practical ways to integrate solutions into their current or future public health practice.

Speakers:

Ihoghosa Iyamu MD, MDICHA, is a PhD Candidate at the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH), UBC and a Graduate Researcher at the clinical prevention services unit of the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).
Stefan Buttigieg, MD. works in the Ministry for Health and Active Aging in Malta and is the Vice President of the Digital Health Section of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA).
Laura Maaß is a PhD candidate at the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen (LSC), Germany, and a member of the steering committee of the European Public Health Association’s Digital Health section. She is a public health practitioner by training.
Felix Holl PhD, MPH, MSc, is a postdoctoral fellow in Medical Informatics at the DigiHealth Institute, Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Germany and a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Where?

This seminar will be held virtually on Zoom, and will be recorded.

Registration:

Please click here to sign up.

Session 2

June 5, 2024, 12 – 3 PM PDT

Digital Health Promotion

Summary:

The presentation will provide an overview of modern tools for public health promotion including social media, mobile apps, and other online education channels, describe strategies to ensure effective communication using such media for various target populations and explore the risk of misinformation and disinformation. You will interact with speakers from across Canada in this session. This workshop will explore real-world problems with designing health promotion campaigns using digital media and identify strategies to ensure effective public health communication. Participants will gain skills for effective public health promotion and communication using digital technologies.

Speakers:

Francisco Ibanez-Carrasco, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Mark Gilbert, School of Population and Public Health, UBC and BCCDC
Ian Roe, Co-Founder, I Boost Immunity and Kids Boost Immunity
Heather Pedersen, Online Sexual Health Manager, BCCDC

Where?

This seminar will be held virtually on Zoom, and will be recorded.

Registration:

Registration for this session is not yet open; please watch this space for more details.

Session 3

June 26, 2024, 12 – 3 PM PDT

Design Thinking in Public Health

Speakers:

Sol Alban is a MLIS student at UBC
Ihoghosa Iyamu MD, MDICHA, is a PhD Candidate at the SPPH, UBC and a Graduate Researcher at the clinical prevention services unit of the BCCDC.
Mark Bondyra is a Business Analyst at the BCCDC
Heather Pedersen, Online Sexual Health Manager, BCCDC (GetCheckedOnline, SmartSexResource)

Where?

This session will primarily be in-person. More details about venue TBD

Registration

Registration for this session is not yet open; please watch this space for more details.

Session 4

July 10, 2024, 12 – 3 PM PDT

Artificial Learning for Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology:

Decoding Machine Learning for Public Health Research: Case Studies from Epidemiological Research

Speakers

Dr. Ehsan Karim, Assistant Professor, School of Population and Public Health at UBC & Scientist at the Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes
Other speakers TBD

Where?

This session is primarily in-person and potentially hybrid. Venue TBD.

Registration

Registration for this session is not yet open; please watch this space for more details.