International Geospatial Health Research Symposium

AAG Annual Meeting, Chicago, April 21-25, 2015

Sponsors:
The International Geospatial Health Research Network
The AAG Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group (HMGSG)
The Association of American Geographers

This Symposium within the 2015 AAG Annual Meeting will explore new research frontiers in geospatial health research and foster international networks to share this information across borders and generate research synergies. It builds on multiple AAG Geography and Health Initiatives of the past decade, including the AAG Initiative for an NIH-wide Geospatial Infrastructure for Health Research, several recent AAG health initiatives and grants with the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, and a recent international forum jointly organized by the AAG, the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences (CPGIS), Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Hong Kong, Utrecht University, and several health ministries and organizations in Europe, to launch an International Geospatial Health Research Network.

We welcome participation from geographers, GIScientists, health researchers, and other scientists working at the frontiers of geography, GIScience, and health at the AAG Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 21-25, 2015. Papers on all aspects of health research and its intersections with geography or GIScience are welcome. Topics may include but are not limited to:

– improving assessments of exposures to physical and social environments and health
– exposure monitoring utilizing real-time GPS/GIS methods
– infectious diseases and their relations to climate change
– geographic and environmental dimensions of chronic diseases
– cancer: genes, epigenetics, and the physical and social environment
– spatial patterns of drug abuse and treatment
– gene-environment interactions
– social environments and mental health
– crowd sourcing of geospatial data for health
– mHealth and global health service delivery initiatives
– health disparities and inequalities
– genomes, health, and geography
– disease ecologies
– interactions among environment, pathogens, humans, and institutions
– neighborhood effects on health behaviors and outcomes
– geographies of public health policies
– geospatial big data and health
– spatial analysis and modeling of disease and disease diffusion
– mobilities and health
– health care provision, access, and utilization
– accessibility of healthcare services and its optimization.
– health and well-being
– methodological issues in health research (e.g., MAUP, UGCoP)
– global health research and public health initiatives

To participate in the International Geospatial Health Research Symposium, please submit your abstract at www.aag.org When you receive confirmation of a successful abstract submission, please then forward this confirmation to: geohealth@aag.org. The abstract deadline is October 27, 2014.

For more information, please visit www.aag.org or contact members of the Symposium organizing committee at geohealth@aag.org.