Columbia Spatial Epidemiology Lab

Columbia Spatial Epidemiology Lab The lab employs a geospatial lens in studying health behaviors and outcomes, especially s*xual health and sleep health, in marginalized populations.

The Spatial Epidemiology Lab, directed by Dr. Dustin Duncan, is housed in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The lab employs a geospatial lens in studying health behaviors and outcomes, especially s*xual health and sleep health. The lab has an emphasis on health disparities, intersectionality and vulnerable populations. Methodologically, the lab applies spatially explicit approaches such as computer-based geospatial technologies and geospatial modeling techniques. Using innovative methods like global positioning system (GPS) technologies, the lab aims to relate neighborhood attributes to health-related behaviors and outcomes. By studying specific neighborhood characteristics, we hope to inform salient and effective interventions and policies. The lab includes research assistants and research interns who are undergraduate students, graduate students, and medical students, in addition to post-doctoral fellows, research affiliates, and geospatial analysts. Research assistants and other members have been co-authors on published manuscripts and have been awarded grants. We work collaboratively with communities and colleagues in New York City and from around the world.

“Like real estate, health is location, location, location. Where you live makes an enormous difference…”
- George A. Kaplan, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Michigan

INTERN SPOTLIGHT: Shane Appiah (he/him) is an undergraduate student at Howard University where he is majoring in Afro-Am...
06/08/2022

INTERN SPOTLIGHT: Shane Appiah (he/him) is an undergraduate student at Howard University where he is majoring in Afro-American Studies and minoring in Sociology. Shane was born and raised in Western Massachusetts and is a first generation college student to two Ghanaian immigrant parents. Shane is a NIDA Summer Research Intern who’s areas of interest include race, gender and class as well as how these stratifying statuses intersect with minority healthcare outcomes in the United States. Shane hopes to continue his career in academia as a sociologist. When not studying, he enjoys riding his bike, playing board games and spending time with friends and family.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Asa Radix is an infectious disease/HIV specialist at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in ...
03/15/2021

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Asa Radix is an infectious disease/HIV specialist at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in NYC, an adjunct assistant professor in the department of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a co-investigator on the TURNNT study team. Originally from Grenada, West Indies, Asa trained in internal medicine and infectious disease at the University of Connecticut and later received an MPhil in epidemiology from Cambridge University. In 2020, Asa earned a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Columbia. Their dissertation focused on health care outcomes for transgender individuals who have accessed gender-affirming interventions. Asa’s research focus is on HIV risk, prevention, and care as well as primary care outcomes among transgender and gender diverse individuals, particularly among those who inhabit other marginalized social identities, due to race, ethnicity and immigration status. Asa has lived in NYC since 2006 and spends most weekends cycling the city’s bike paths.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Justin Knox is an Assistant Professor of Clinical implementation Science and Intervention (in Psy...
01/01/2021

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Justin Knox is an Assistant Professor of Clinical implementation Science and Intervention (in Psychiatry), and excited to be part of the Spatial Epidemiology Lab at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. His research centers on substance use, infectious diseases, social network analysis and mixed methods research, with a focus on vulnerable and marginalized populations, including racial and s*xual minorities in domestic and global settings. Justin recently received a K01 award funded by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) to develop and pilot test an intervention that combines both social network support and smartphone technology to improve HIV treatment outcomes and reduce alcohol use in heavy-drinking Black s*xual minority men living with HIV who drink heavily in the US. Prior to this, Justin completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Substance Abuse Epidemiology Training Program at Columbia University, which is also where he earned his PhD in Epidemiology. His dissertation was on substance use and HIV risk among social networks of Black South African men who have s*x with men, work funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (an F31) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and an independent research grant from the U.S. Fulbright Student Program. Justin also has a Master’s of Public Health in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University, a Master’s of Science in Medical Anthropology from University College London, and a Bachelor’s of Arts from Middlebury College. Justin also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland. Originally from Seattle, Justin has lived in the New York area since 2005. He has three young boys (8, 5 and 3 years old) and loves to introduce them to delicious food, get them outdoors, and travel with them.

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Raymond Moody is a postdoctoral fellow in the Spatial Epidemiology Lab at Columbia University’s Mai...
10/23/2020

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Raymond Moody is a postdoctoral fellow in the Spatial Epidemiology Lab at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. His research examines the impact of social and psychological stress on substance use and s*xual behavior among s*xual and gender minorities. He is excited to join the lab where he can continue to conduct research in this area while building skills in epidemiological research to examine the impact of social and spatial networks. Raymond earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Originally from Arizona, he has lived in New York since 2013 and loves the endless variety of restaurants in NYC (he also enjoys an occasional visit to Arizona for the abundant sunshine and endless options for Mexican food).

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Andrea is a transgender women of color, born and raised in New Orleans. Prior to gaining employment wit...
07/03/2020

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Andrea is a transgender women of color, born and raised in New Orleans. Prior to gaining employment with Brotherhood, Incorporated in 2011, Andrea worked for 11 years in the Home Health Profession. During the height of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Andrea decided that she wanted to do more to aide in the fight against HIV/AIDS. As a result, she formed an Advisory Board in the New Orleans Area, which advocates for Fair treatment of Trans women, social policy change, advocating for ending anti-discriminatory practices and provides social supports for other Trans women. The Advisory Board is aptly Named SUSTA, which stands for Strong, Unified, SUSTAS, Teaching everyone about HIV/AIDS. As a result of her advocacy efforts and the relentless pursuit of fair treatment of Trans women, Andrea has emerged as highly respected leader and visionary in the Trans community. As a result of being victimized by discrimination herself, she has worked with other trans-friendly advocates and has successfully able to have a consent decrees developed by both the local police and Sheriff’s Departments for the Orleans Parish Prison, denouncing unfair treatment of LGBT individuals. Andrea proudly serves as the Lead HIV Prevention Specialist for all Trans women in the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area. She conducts both street and venue-based outreach and serves as an active voice in the LGBT community to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Thus, Andrea has significant research and service experience in HIV prevention and treatment with transgender women of color. Andrea’s strong skills include recruitment, retention, and protocol development.

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Alicia Singham Goodwin is a masters student studying Epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School of Pub...
06/03/2020

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Alicia Singham Goodwin is a masters student studying Epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and is a Graduate Research Assistant in Columbia’s Spatial Epidemiology Lab. Her previous work includes research and data management at Integrate Health, an HIV clinic in Togo, West Africa, as well as working as a computer programmer and in programming education. Alicia has lived in NYC for five years and is passionate about the city's neighborhoods and subways, ranging from involvement in local housing and transit advocacy groups to hobbies like hosting transit trivia and attempting to visit every subway stop in the system.

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Dr Liadh Timmins is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Columbia Spatial Epidemiology Lab. They ar...
04/23/2020

STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Dr Liadh Timmins is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Columbia Spatial Epidemiology Lab. They are behavioral and social psychologist who conducts research on health behaviors, mental health, and s*xual and gender minority health. Their previous work has focused on the biopsychosocial mechanisms by which mental health problems develop in gender and s*xual minorities, with a focus on the differences between different groups. At the lab, Liadh conducts intersectional research on the relationships between neighborhoods, minority stress, psychological factors and health in s*xual minority men and transgender women. They also advocate for the inclusion and equality of LGBT+ staff and students at universities. Liadh is from Ireland and completed their PhD in the United Kingdom. In their free time, Liadh enjoys playing board games and going to gigs.

Today Dr. Duncan’s first undergraduate mentee (William Goedel) defended his dissertation at Brown University School of P...
04/09/2020

Today Dr. Duncan’s first undergraduate mentee (William Goedel) defended his dissertation at Brown University School of Public Health via Zoom. Despite not being able to be there in person in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Duncan is incredibly proud of Dr. William Goedel. Go Will! We’re incredibly proud of your accomplishments and your contributions to science!

Columbia’s Built Environment and Health Research Group (led by our colleague and Spatial Epidemiology Lab affiliate Dr. ...
03/18/2020

Columbia’s Built Environment and Health Research Group (led by our colleague and Spatial Epidemiology Lab affiliate Dr. Andrew Rundle) worked with Policymap.com to map at risk populations for severe COVID-19. The map below shows Counties in purple with high numbers of adults 65 years or older and low availability of hospital beds.

You can view the map on this post and explore it further using the following weblink: https://beh.columbia.edu/2020/03/17/at-risk-populations-for-severe-covid-19-part-ii/

Professors Dustin Duncan and Rusi Jaspal (from Nottingham Trent University in the U.K.) recently met at Dr. Duncan’s off...
03/18/2020

Professors Dustin Duncan and Rusi Jaspal (from Nottingham Trent University in the U.K.) recently met at Dr. Duncan’s office at Columbia University to discuss their new HIV epidemiology collaboration on a study of Black s*xual minority men (SMM) in London to build on Columbia’s Spatial Epidemiology Lab’s N2 Cohort Study of 600 Black SMM in Chicago, IL, Jackson, MS, and New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA.

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