In March, the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) hosted a two-day conference focusing on digital health equity and health innovation. The event brought together prominent figures from universities and the health care sector to explore how data science can drive equitable public health decisions and outcomes.
The conference, "Digital Health Equity: Local Empowerment, Global Alignment," was held on March 4-5, 2025, at Kline Tower. It was organized by YSPH's Data Science and Data Equity program in collaboration with the Yale Institute for the Foundations of Data Science (FDS) and supported by the Yale MacMillan Center.
Experts shared insights on the transformative role of data science in public health, emphasizing its potential to promote fairness and social impact beyond traditional analysis. Discussions highlighted innovative approaches to using data for informed policy decisions, inclusive scientific discoveries, and equitable health care practices.
The conference aimed to disseminate knowledge, tools, and resources essential for fostering a fair and just public health landscape. By aligning local empowerment with global efforts, participants sought to create a more fair and innovative data-driven future for public health.
Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee, PhD, is the first senior associate dean of Public Health Data Science at YSPH. She led the conference with YSPH faculty Dr. Brian Wahl, PhD, MPH; Dr. Terika McCall, PhD, MPH, MBA; Dr. Forrest W. Crawford, PhD; and Kaakpema Yelpaala, MPH.
Dean Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, welcomed the attendees and highlighted the importance of information and data in health today. Using this information is powerful, but it comes with responsibilities. FDS Director Dan Spielman acknowledged the collaboration between YSPH and FDS in combining data science and human health.
“The expertise, insights, and discussions reaffirmed a key principle: data science innovations are stronger when they include all of us,” Dr. Mukherjee said.
Shaping the future of public health with health data and AI
The Digital Health Equity conference covered four main themes introduced by a YSPH faculty member. An invited speaker expanded on a theme with a keynote, followed by a panel discussion.
- How do we make sure digital health solutions are fair in their design and use?
- What are the compromises between privacy, representation, and accuracy in health data?
- How can AI and digital health data create significant benefits for communities?
- How can we expand data-driven interventions while keeping them ethical and inclusive?
Data Science Innovations
Dr. McCall, assistant professor of biostatistics (health informatics) introduced the first session about data equity and digital health solutions.
Dr. McCall said distorted, biased, and incomplete data risk making existing health disparities worse. Data should represent people from diverse groups. It should also show their health issues and daily lives accurately, she said.
Keynote speaker Dr. Jessica Jackson, PhD, MA, of Mental Health America, said people who do not have access to reliable internet or devices, and individuals with disabilities get overlooked in discussions about digital health data. Communities that have been excluded from research and product development also get overlooked in advancing digital health.
In the discussion that followed, panelists talked about data equity and poor measurement of social factors. “Who creates these tools of measurement is key,” said Dr. Karen Wang, MD, MHS.
“How are we measuring what people in the community think about how their data are being used” Dr. Wang asked. She is an assistant professor of biostatistics (health informatics) at YSPH and assistant professor of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Crawford is an associate professor of biostatistics at YSPH. Crawford introduced a session on privacy in digital health. He discussed how data collection in health care and public health has intensified with wearable data and data from smart devices, making protection of individual identities a challenging task.
Digital medical records hold a lot of personal data, he said. Other personal data comes from cellphones, Apple Watches, health trackers, and GPS devices.
Lance A. Waller, PhD, gave a keynote address about data privacy. Waller is a professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He discussed a privacy challenge when companies use and share geographic data from smartphones.
At the end of Day 1, there was a student panel about the future of digital health. The students shared their commitment to using their public health skills for social and global solutions. They requested more training in critically discussing data science innovations and products and engaging in conversations about data.
Data Science and Machine Learning
Dr. Wahl introduced a discussion about the emerging landscape of digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) in India.
Some countries, like India, are emerging as leaders in digital health infrastructure. But we need guidelines and guardrails, Wahl said. Universities can provide frameworks around health data, added Wahl, assistant professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases) at YSPH.
The next keynote speaker was Dr. Milind Tambe, PhD, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University. Dr. Tambe discussed a mobile health intervention program for new and expecting mothers in India powered by machine learning algorithms. Over two million women have benefitted from weekly automated health messages, he said.
Dr. Ruchit Nagar, MD, MPH ’16, is a resident physician at Yale New Haven Health. He is also the CEO of Khushi Baby, a digital health nonprofit that he started as a YSPH student. The goal of Khushi Baby is to improve immunity against disease, “so babies grow up to be happy and healthy.”
Khushi Baby builds digital health tools with India’s community health workers and health officials. Dr. Nagar said the large amount of public health data helps identify vulnerable communities. This way, we can better meet their health needs, he said.
Yelpaala is a senior fellow and lecturer in public health at YSPH. Yelpaala introduced a session about how scalable data products and services can help health innovation.
Dr. Sema Sgaier, PhD, gave the final keynote address. Sgaier is the co-founder and CEO of Surgo Health, a public benefit corporation. Surgo Health’s mission is to improve health outcomes by deeply understanding people.
Dr. Sgaier said that we need innovation to support precision public health and personalized medicine by improving how we process, connect and analyze disparate data sets. She gave examples of interventions Surgo Health has implemented globally. She talked about using behavioral science and data to help reduce maternal mortality. Panelists discussed ways for businesses and universities to work together to support data equity.
In closing, Dr. Mukherjee reflected on YSPH's strategic priority to strengthen data science and digital health capabilities in public health. That priority aligns closely with the goal of the Data Science and Data Equity Task Force: to reduce barriers in utilization of data science and AI in public health training, research, and practice.
“Today’s sessions have reinforced the need for diverse and inclusive collaboration, as well as the commitment to building a sustainable digital health ecosystem that serves all populations,” Dr. Mukherjee said.
Panelists who discussed digital health and health equity in public health:
- Mark Abraham, MPH ’23, executive director of DataHaven, a non-profit organization in New Haven, Connecticut
- Dr. Viknesh Sounderajah, PhD, clinical scientist at Google Health
- Dr. Karen Wang, MD, MHS, assistant professor of biostatistics (health informatics) at YSPH and of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine
- Dr. Hoon Cho, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical informatics and data science, and assistant professor of computer science at Yale School of Medicine
- Dr. Joshua Snoke, PhD, a statistician at RAND
- Dr. Mayank Garg, PhD, early career faculty fellow, Koita Center for Digital Health-Ashoka University
- Dr. Padmini “Mini” Murthy, MD, MPH, MS, FAMWA, professor, New York Medical College, and the global health lead for the American Medical Woman’s Association
- Dr. Ruchit Nagar, MD, MPH ’16, a resident physician at Yale New Haven Health and the CEO of Khushi Baby
- Dr. Neil Lewis, Jr., PhD, associate professor of communication, medicine, and public policy at Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medicine
- Perfecto Sanchez, co-founder of Equity Quotient
YSPH students who shared their perspectives about the future of digital health equity:
- Cathy (Yin) Jian, MPH ‘25 (Health Policy and Management), and Shannon Dhindsa, MPH, ‘25 (Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases)
- Mike Binney, Executive MPH, ‘25
- Kerry Conlin, PhD candidate (Chronic Disease Epidemiology), Reed Mszar, PhD candidate (Chronic Disease Epidemiology), and Melody A. Owens, PhD candidate (Biostatistics)
The conference was made possible by the contributions of the DSDE staff: Shelby Golden, Matthew Schlager, and Sohani Sirdeshmukh; Holly Zoeller from the YSPH Office of the Dean; and Ephemia Nicolakis from the YSPH Office of Communications.