PMO 577 Introduction to Biogeography in Public Health
BioMedical GIS/RS is a holistic field that combines concepts, theories, distinctions, and techniques of geography, remote sensing, ecosystems, socioeconomic, and biological sciences. Biomedical GIS/RS uses multidisciplinary mechanistic and correlational methods to visualize, manage, and analyze geocoded data to build prediction models for decision-making and resource allocations. It emphasizes the geographic extent and seasonal distribution patterns of biological systems in response to environmental and socioeconomic variables, including disease pathogens, environmental exposure, health, and healthcare systems. This will be conducted by providing students with the major techniques of data visualization, management, and analyses using GIS, Remote Sensing, OpenRefine, and R statistical packages. The course will provide students with some key methods for spatiotemporal distribution models of infectious disease pathogens across environmental gradients. The lectures and lab sessions will cover different health data structures, geocoding data, deep learning/machine learning, and distribution models.
Prerequisite
Concurrence of Course Director