HealthMap Project at Children’s Hospital Informatics Program (Children’s Hospital Boston) Disease Informatics Intern – Spanish Speaker
Agency description/mission statement:
HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.
For recent press and publications go to http://healthmap.org/press.php and http://healthmap.org/publications/
Practicum description:
HealthMap aggregates many sources of information using an automated system. To improve the automated system, we also review the alerts to make confirm disease and location. We then communicate the current status of infectious disease in the world to subscribers, including local public health agencies, the CDC, and WHO.
Scope of work:
Primary Responsibility: We cover news in 9 languages. We currently need assistance reviewing online news articles in Spanish. The student will review news on infectious disease outbreaks and correct disease or location mistakes made by the automated system.
Additional responsibilities: The student will report to the rest of the team on breaking news in the Spanish-speaking world. (S)he will also be asked to write very brief outbreak summaries for inclusion in our weekly blog when important outbreaks occur.
Individual research projects are welcome/encouraged but not required.
Minimum skills required: (List preferred or required skills, e.g., language, research, knowledge of statistics or computers, familiarity with particular population, etc.)
Required:
Ability to read and understand news articles on disease outbreaks in Spanish.
Cultural literacy for Spanish-speaking countries in Western Hemisphere (when reading an article online from a newspaper in San Francisco, you must be able to quickly identify the correct San Francisco of the dozens in Central and South America.)
Excellent Internet search skills
Familiarity with infectious diseases and associated terms (Please list infectious disease coursework or work experience)
Strong writing skills
You must have lived, worked, or studied in a Spanish-speaking country in the Western hemisphere. We will also consider applicants who frequently travel to a Spanish-speaking country in the Western hemisphere to visit family. The purpose of this requirement is to identify applicants who have substantial cultural knowledge in addition to the required language skills.
Start in September/ End in December. Potential to continue into next semester.
10 hours/week at $9.00/hour. Flexible schedule. Some hours may be performed at home, but student must be in the office at least once a week.
For more information and to apply:
Please e-mail Dr. Sumiko Mekaru.
Please tell us why you are interested in this practicum, your infectious disease work/class experience, and Spanish language proficiency.
