UK Public Health Researcher Partners with Small Business to Develop Analytical Software
LEXINGTON (Nov. 16, 2015) — A University of Kentucky epidemiologist who tracks the dissemination of disease within high-risk populations has received a grant to develop a technological tool to assist researchers with mapping social networks.
In a new entrepreneurial role, April Young, an assistant professor, is the first faculty member within the UK College of Public Health to receive a small business grant to pursue a project stemming from her research. She has partnered with a small business Charles River Analytics to receive a one-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to design a software program called Semi-automated Processing of Interconnected Dyads Using Entity Resolution (SPIDER). Delivering a function intended to simplify network monitoring for members of the research community, the program revolutionizes data collection and analysis through a standardized process of tracking and quantifying social behavior within a target population.
Young encountered methodological challenges in studying the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C in drug-using populations in Appalachia. She and Jennifer Havens, an infectious disease researcher in the UK College of Medicine and Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, were interested in knowing whether a person’s relationships and position in social networks put them at a higher risk of contracting HIV and Hepatitis C. The study required the researchers to map the social networks of drug users living in communities where risk behavior and/or disease were prevalent.
The massive set of data collected during Havens' NIH-funded Social Networks among Appalachian People study necessitated a uniform and reliable system for mapping social networks. Using distinctive algorithms in Microsoft Excel, Young built a software prototype to more efficiently determine how participants in the study were connected through their risk and social relationships. Many researchers struggle to organize large sets of data while avoiding data inconsistencies or duplication. The SPIDER program will facilitate the de-duplication and cleaning of network data through advanced entity resolution.
Young is co-leading the project with software developer Christopher Hopkins at Massachusetts-based Charles River Analytics to build the new program, which is expected to be ready for beta testing in 2016. She believes the software will expedite the research process, as well as set a methodological standard for mapping social networks in research scholarship. Researchers who utilize the program will be able to share the same methods for evaluating networks, which will improve their ability to collaborate and communicate about research findings. Most importantly, the program will strengthen the methodological rigor and comparability of network research studies and help researchers understand the contribution of network-level factors to health disparities.
Young received assistance from the UK Gatton College of Business Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship in pursuing funding for the project. Steve Borgatti, an Endowed Chair at the UK Gatton College of Business, Richard Crosby, a professor in the UK College of Public Health, and Havens are also collaborating on the development of the tool. The program leverages intellectual property of the University of Kentucky.
This research is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R43MH106361. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
MEDIA CONTACT: Elizabeth Adams, elizabethadams@uky.edu