Thursday, December 2, 2021
9:00 am - 10:00 am
"Development of Models for Geographic Vulnerabilities and Solutions in HIV" Bita Fayaz Farkhad, PhD Research Associate, Social Action Lab, Annenberg School for Communication University of PennsylvaniaBita Farkhad, PhD is a Research Associate in the Social Action Lab at the Annenberg School for Communication. Dr. Farkhad's research focuses on how public programs and policies affect individuals' health and behavior, and involves the use of microeconometric methods to evaluate and inform public policy.Dr. Farkhad is an applied microeconomist with interests in health and public policy. At present, her research primarily examines the impact of the Affordable Care Act on early-stage HIV diagnosis, access to HIV preventive care, and the role of harm reduction policies such as syringe exchange programs on substance use. Another line of her research uses big data and deep/machine learning techniques of natural language processing to assess community-level behaviors.