On the Ethics of Using Social Media Data for Health Research

Posted on by Guest Author
A wall of words relating to social media, with the words "health" and "ethics" prominently visible in red

Guest post by Dr. Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez, associate professor of informatics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Social media has grown in popularity for health-related research as it has become evident that it can be a good source of patient insights. Be it Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon reviews or health forums, researchers … Continue reading On the Ethics of Using Social Media Data for Health Research

Information Along the Underground Railroad

Posted on by Patti Brennan
Silhouette of a man and child holding hands as they walk away from the camera along a receding set of railroad tracks

A couple years ago, I wrote about how the paintings in Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series inspired me to think about how the National Library of Medicine gets information to people on the move—people displaced by violence, natural disasters, or economic crises. I felt a similar stirring after viewing the Jeanine Michna-Bales exhibition Photographs of the … Continue reading Information Along the Underground Railroad

Socio-legal Barriers to Data Reuse

Posted on by Guest Author
concept image of data connection and resuse

Envisioning a sustainable data trust

The Wisdom in Asking Questions

Posted on by Patti Brennan
bleachers filled with graduating students in academic regalia

The following has been adapted from a commencement address I gave last month. Congratulations, graduates! You’ve spent years preparing for this day, years of answering questions—on exams, in clinical debriefings, and in response to your patients’ inquiries. Knowing those answers has been essential to getting you to where you are today. But now, as you … Continue reading The Wisdom in Asking Questions