Lauren Yee

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
910 followers 500+ connections

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Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Waterloo

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Experience & Education

  • Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Waterloo

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Licenses & Certifications

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Publications

  • Avian Influenza Risk Surveillance in North America with Online Media

    PLOS ONE

    The use of Internet-based sources of information for health surveillance applications has increased in recent years, as a greater share of social and media activity happens through online channels. The potential surveillance value in online sources of information about emergent health events include early warning, situational awareness, risk perception and evaluation of health messaging among others. The challenge in harnessing these sources of data is the vast number of potential sources to…

    The use of Internet-based sources of information for health surveillance applications has increased in recent years, as a greater share of social and media activity happens through online channels. The potential surveillance value in online sources of information about emergent health events include early warning, situational awareness, risk perception and evaluation of health messaging among others. The challenge in harnessing these sources of data is the vast number of potential sources to monitor and developing the tools to translate dynamic unstructured content into actionable information. In this paper we investigated the use of one social media outlet, Twitter, for surveillance of avian influenza risk in North America. We collected AI-related messages over a five-month period and compared these to official surveillance records of AI outbreaks. A fully automated data extraction and analysis pipeline was developed to acquire, structure, and analyze social media messages in an online context. Two methods of outbreak detection; a static threshold and a cumulative-sum dynamic threshold; based on a time series model of normal activity were evaluated for their ability to discern important time periods of AI-related messaging and media activity. Our findings show that peaks in activity were related to real-world events, with outbreaks in Nigeria, France and the USA receiving the most attention while those in China were less evident in the social media data. Topic models found themes related to specific AI events for the dynamic threshold method, while many for the static method were ambiguous. Further analyses of these data might focus on quantifying the bias in coverage and relation between outbreak characteristics and detectability in social media data.

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  • Spatial data issues in geographical zoonoses research

    Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien

    Linkages between human, environmental, and animal health have been an increasingly important topic of geographical research in recent years. As more data become available for explicitly representing the geographies of these systems, and how they interact, geographers are playing an important role in shaping this research area. Whereas previously these linkages have been known, but rarely quantified, geographical data are now enabling surveillance of environmental changes, animal populations…

    Linkages between human, environmental, and animal health have been an increasingly important topic of geographical research in recent years. As more data become available for explicitly representing the geographies of these systems, and how they interact, geographers are playing an important role in shaping this research area. Whereas previously these linkages have been known, but rarely quantified, geographical data are now enabling surveillance of environmental changes, animal populations, and human populations in order to realize fine-grained estimates of disease risk. In this paper, we consider the role of spatial data in this new research area, and characterize challenges of integrating and analyzing data across these domains. We explore these issues through three case studies into emerging zoonoses; avian influenza, Japanese encephalitis, and syndromic animal health surveillance. Issues of scale, availability and access, and linkage uncertainties are found to be key data issues. We anticipate these issues will be important research challenges for geographers working on zoonoses, and as part of multidisciplinary research teams. Finally, we suggest that geographers working in this area adopt the concept of vulnerability surveillance to address these issues and refocus research on vulnerable populations, interfaces, and areas.

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Honors & Awards

  • Eliza Tschirhart Award

    -

  • The Carol & Russell Muncaster Bursary Award in Geography & Environmental Studies

    WLU

    Authored and presented a paper in geography at the annual meetings of the Canadian Association of Geographers. The recipient is chosen by the chair of the department.

  • MS2Discovery Travel Award

    MS2Discovery

    Travel award granted to present research abroad

Languages

  • English

    Native or bilingual proficiency

Organizations

  • Wildlife Disease Association

    -

    - Present

  • The Canadian Association of Geographers

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    - Present

  • COPEH-Canada

    -

    - Present

    Community of Practice in Ecosystems approaches to Health EcoHealth Training Program brings together people from different domains who integrate, or who are looking to integrate, the ecosystem approaches to health in their work, thereby creating a network of people drawing upon the richness of these approaches. • Field experience in different areas of the Saint Lawrence River Basin illustrating the complexity of the water system and environmental challenges • Interactive class-based sessions…

    Community of Practice in Ecosystems approaches to Health EcoHealth Training Program brings together people from different domains who integrate, or who are looking to integrate, the ecosystem approaches to health in their work, thereby creating a network of people drawing upon the richness of these approaches. • Field experience in different areas of the Saint Lawrence River Basin illustrating the complexity of the water system and environmental challenges • Interactive class-based sessions aimed to understand EcoHealth approaches to a diverse range of problems • Collaborative groups, activities and projects to practice and working in transdisciplinary teams

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