Jacob Bor, Institute Junior Faculty Member, to Give 3/29 Wed@Hariri/Meet Our Fellows Talk

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM on Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Refreshments & networking at 2:45 PM
Hariri Institute for Computing
111 Cummington Mall, Room 180

Last fall, the Hariri Institute for Computing launched a redesigned “Meet Our Fellows” series that will showcase the Institute’s 2016 Junior Faculty Fellows as well as the inaugural cohort of Hariri Graduate Student Fellows. Prior to Junior Faculty Fellow presentations, a Graduate Student Fellow will give a 5-minute preview of his or her current research.

Meet Our Fellows/Research Preview: Sarah Zheng & Rajita Menon
Sarah Zheng
Hariri Graduate Fellow, Hariri Institute for Computing
PhD candidate, Operation and Technology Management (QST)
“Data-driven Health Care Operations Management” – Zheng’s interest is in examining how to best allocate scarce resources to improve quality and lower costs in healthcare. She employs econometric, statistical and machine learning techniques to analyze large datasets from insurance claims, clinical databases, hospital operations and performance data, and surveys of the health care workforce.

Rajita Menon
Hariri Graduate Fellow, Hariri Institute for Computing
PhD candidate, Physics (CAS)
“Multi-species Mutualism in Spatially Constrained Microbial Communities”- Menon uses a computational perspective to understand how physical constraints control the stability and productivity of microbial communities. Specifically, her work explores the relationship between network topology and community function in microbial ecology and human disease.

Meet Our Fellows/Junior Faculty Fellow Presentation
Building a South African National HIV Cohort from Routine Laboratory Data
Jacob Bor
Junior Faculty Fellow, Hariri Institute for Computing
Assistant Professor, Global Health & Epidemiology, School of Public Health
With an introduction by Patricia Hibberd, Chair and Professor, Department of Global Health

Abstract: Optimal management of HIV infection requires early diagnosis, rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy, and lifelong adherence to treatment, guided by routine laboratory monitoring. At the population level, successful therapeutic management of HIV has potential to reduce the spread of the virus and even to end the epidemic. South Africa has the world’s largest HIV burden and largest treatment program. However, currently, there is no national system to track patients longitudinally as they progress through care. We developed and applied a graph-guided probabilistic linkage algorithm to South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service database, which contains all CD4 count and HIV viral load tests used to monitor HIV disease progression and care. I will present results from this linkage and preliminary evidence on some hitherto unseen features of South Africa’s national HIV program. Our findings have potential to guide South Africa’s current expansion of treatment eligibility to all patients at diagnosis.

Bio: Jacob Bor was selected as an Institute Junior Faculty Fellow in fall 2016. He is an assistant professor in the Departments of Global Health and Epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health. His research applies the analytical tools of economics and data science to the study of population health. Research interests include the economic spillover effects of HIV treatment scale-up in southern Africa, population health impacts of policy interventions, and chronic disease management in low-resource settings. His current work involves a novel record linkage of South Africa’s national laboratory database, creating a national patient cohort in collaboration with BU and South African colleagues. He is a recipient of BU’s Peter T. Paul Career Development Professorship and a graduate of Harvard School of Public Health.