Training in Advanced Data Analytics to End Drug-Related Harms (TADA)

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Abstract: Collins and Riley, Directors of NIH and of NIH’s Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, have described the 21st century data revolution as potentially “transformative” for social and behavioral science (SBS) research. Evolutionary leaps in technology have generated vast arrays of novel sources of Big Data: in 2018, for example, 500 million microblogs were tweeted daily, and 2.48 billion users engaged with Facebook. The data revolution has also catalyzed massive growth in administrative data, as governments and other entities digitize their data (e.g., the CDC has data on billions of prescriptions dispensed in the US). Constella- tions of tweets, posts, and administrative data provide “transformative” opportunities for SBS researchers to swiftly identify threats to health; characterize-more comprehensively than ever before, and often in real time- the conditions in which people thrive, suffer, and die; and develop novel interventions. Nowhere are such transformations more direly needed than to address a 21st century crisis: substance use disorders (SUD). In 2017, HHS declared the opioid crisis a national emergency, as 11.4 million people misused opioid analgesics, and overdoses killed >70,000 people, contributing to a drop in US life expectancy. We are, though, failing to prepare the next generation of SBS researchers to engage these transforma- tive tools. A scan of syllabi from departments of behavioral and social science in 10 top public health schools reveals that required methods courses culminate with multilevel and structural equation models, decades-old methods ill-equipped to leverage emerging data to catalyze transformative approaches to end SUD epidemics. Supported by 45 Emory faculty from 11 departments, the proposed training program (TADA) will prepare a diverse cadre of 21st century SBS researchers to develop transformative approaches to end the SUD crisis. TADA will prepare trainees to ethically, critically, and seamlessly integrate advanced data science methods into the SBS research lifecycle for SUD. Trainees will learn to: (1) Conduct theoretically-informed studies of distributions and ecologies of SUD-related harms using advanced data science methods; (2) Conduct theoretically-informed studies motivating and assessing policies and programmatic interventions that may affect SUD-related harms and services; (3) Disseminate findings to multiple stakeholder communities to strengthen efforts to end SUD-related harms; (4) Critically apply principles of the ethical and responsible conduct of research. TADA will engage trainees in a comprehensive mentoring program; a 2-semester course and lab consisting of 5 “modules,” each of which pairs a specific SBS theory with an advanced data science method; journal clubs; dissertation workshops; $5000 dissertation grants; and research rotations at Emory, the CDC, and the Georgia DPH. We are seeking 5 funded slots across two cohorts, each with 2 years of funding, for pre-doctoral students in 4 programs (Behavioral Science, Health Policy, Sociology’s Health Track, and Clinical Psychology). TADA will extend its reach beyond funded trainees via a TADA Certificate program.