YSPH Biostatistics/Health Informatics Seminar: “Harnessing Patient Voices, Multimodal Data and Computational Epidemiology to Advance Human Health"

SPEAKER: Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH - Associate Professor, Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco and the Computational Precision Health Program at University of California, Berkeley

TITLE: “Harnessing Patient Voices, Multimodal Data and Computational Epidemiology to Advance Human Health"

ABSTRACT: What can digital footprints tell us about the state of human health—and what are we missing?

This research leverages computational epidemiology to analyze real-world digital data from social media, forums, and search trends to uncover patient experiences and emerging health signals. Moving beyond text, it integrates multimodal data—images, audio, video, and clinical notes—to capture a more comprehensive view of our health. Advanced AI methods are applied to develop new diagnostics and interventions, with applications ranging from public health messaging on TikTok to retinal imaging for Alzheimer’s disease. The work also highlights the role of public health researchers in communicating to the public through podcasts, with future directions focused on scaling impact through cross-sector partnerships and AI education.

Bio: Dr. Yulin Hswen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at UCSF and the Computational Precision Health Program at UC Berkeley. Her research leverages artificial intelligence and multimodal data—spanning text, audio, video, and imaging—to identify hidden health signals and novel diagnostic markers, including the use of retinal images for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She also investigates the role of online narratives and social media discourse in shaping population health behaviors and public opinion. Dr. Hswen is an Associate Editor at JAMA, where she leads the JAMA+ AI section and hosts the JAMA+ conversations which is a podcast that discusses the intersection of AI and medicine.

YSPH values inclusion and access for all participants. If you have questions about accessibility or would like to request an accommodation, please contact Charmila Fernandes at Charmila.fernandes@yale.edu. We will try to provide accommodations requested by June 18, 2025.