Using GIS in MCH Research & Planning

Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET

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Presenter Information

Michael Kogan, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Data and Program Development
Maternal and Child Health Bureau
Health Resources and Services Administration
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 18-41
Rockville, MD 20857
Phone: (301) 443-3145
Fax: (301) 443-3145
mkogan@hrsa.gov

Michael Kogan holds a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Yale University. He is currently the Director, Office of Data and information Management for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. In this position he is responsible for directing activities of the office with an emphasis on 1) maternal and child health research; 2) building the data capacity of federal, state and local areas in maternal and child health; and 3) building the maternal and child health epidemiology capacity in the United States.

Prior to this position, he worked as a Senior Epidemiologist at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He serves on the editorial boards of the Maternal and Child Health Journal and the American Journal of Public Health. His research interests include: the effect of prenatal and pediatric care services on maternal and child health, the effect of lack of health care coverage on access and continuity of care, multiple births and determinants of preterm birth.

Russell S. Kirby, Ph.D., M.S., FACE
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Maternal and Child Health
School of Public Health, University of Alabama (UAB) at Birmingham
1530 3rd Avenue South, RPHB 320
Birmingham, AL 35294-0022
Phone: 205-934-2985
RKirby@ms.soph.uab.edu

Dr. Russell Kirby is a perinatal and pediatric epidemiologist with a doctorate in human geography and a Masters of Science in preventive medicine-epidemiology (both from the University of Wisconsin). He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed articles in the field of maternal and child health, and actively participates in the editorial process as a peer reviewer or editorial board member for numerous journals. In May 2007, Dr. Kirby received the faculty award for outstanding public health service from the UAB School of Public Health, and in December 2007 he received the National MCH Epidemiology Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is also the President-Elect of the Association of Teachers of Maternal and Child Health. Prior to his current position at UAB, he was a health statistician for the States of Wisconsin and Arkansas and served on the faculties at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He was elected Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology in 1996.

Dr. Kirby's research interests focus in several areas. First, his work examines the public health implications of health policies and programs, with special reference to perinatal and maternal/child health. Second, he has developed a conceptual framework of population health informatics focusing on database design, record linkage, quality of databases and data elements in existing population-based information systems, and the role of geographic information systems. Public health practice and surveillance activities figure prominently in this conceptual framework. Dr. Kirby is also a research collaborator in genetics, clinical research, study design, and analysis.

Sara McLafferty, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Geography
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Room 220 Davenport Hall
607 South Mathews Ave
Urbana, IL 61801-3671
smclaff@uiuc.edu

Sara McLafferty is a Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research investigates place-based disparities in health and access to health care for women, immigrants and racial/ethnic minorities in U.S. cities and the use of GIS and spatial analysis methods in examining health disparities. Her books include GIS and Public Health (with Ellen Cromley) and Geographies of Women's Health (with Isabel Dyck and Nancy Lewis).

Eugene R. Takahashi, Ph.D., M.PH.
Chief, Epidemiology and Program Development
Epidemiology, Assessment and Program Development
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Program
Center for Family Health
California Department of Public Health
1615 Capitol Avenue, MS 8304
P.O. Box 997420
Sacramento, CA 95899-7420
Phone: 916-650-0331
gene.takahashi@cdph.ca.gov

Eugene R. Takahashi, PhD, MPH, is Chief of MCAH Epidemiology and Program Development; Epidemiology, Assessment and Program Development; Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Program of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). For a $45 million federal Title V Maternal and Child Health grant, he recruits, supervises, trains and directs researchers and epidemiologists in the analysis of data on California births (over 550,000 per year), deaths, and population-based surveys such as the Maternal and Infant Health Assessment (MIHA) survey of postpartum women and the California Women's Health Survey. Dr. Takahashi's primary focus areas are the MIHA survey, teen births, sudden infant death syndrome, and program data from the Domestic Violence program and the California Diabetes and Pregnancy Program. He also guides the geographic information services (GIS) unit for geographic epidemiologic analyses for all units of Center for Family Health. Dr. Takahashi received his M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and his Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. He is a member of the Data Policy Advisory Committee of the CDPH, and California's maternal and child health representative on the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. He is also a frequent reviewer for the Maternal and Child Health Journal.