News from the Center for Health Decision ScienceHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Welcome to this month's edition of the Center for Health Decision Science (CHDS) newsletter. Explore upcoming seminars, recent decision science publications, multimedia and curated resources for teaching and learning, as well as news within the field.
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| Newsletter Issue: February 2024
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| CHDS News Stories - Recent
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Controlling measles in low- and middle-income countries poses significant challenges, as discussed in by Kevin McCarthy in a CHDS seminar. McCarthy is a Senior Research Manager at the Institute for Disease Modeling within the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) is widely used to calculate the number and economic value of air pollution-related deaths and illnesses around the world...
CHDS has announced the 2024 Howard Raiffa Fund award recipients as PhD in Health Policy doctoral students Andrea Luviano and Jacob Jameson...
Fangli Geng, doctoral student in Health Policy concentrating in Decision Science, successfully defended her thesis, “Assessing Value and Optimizing Decision-Making in Post-Acute Care Across Diverse Populations”...
CHDS’ Ankur Pandya will offer an intermediate-advanced level course in experiential learning this spring, RDS 290. This course integrates theoretical concepts, methodological skills, and practical applications...
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CHDS seminars feature national and international decision science experts. The seminars are virtual via Zoom and require pre-registration using the link provided below.
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Time Preferences and COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy
Monday, February 26, 11:00 am ET
This global survey from July 2022 to June 2023 explores individual attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination. While no present bias is evident, there's substantial cross-country variation in discount rates. Hesitant respondents show higher discount rates than vaccinated individuals, who, in turn, have higher rates than refusers. The relationship between discounting and vaccination choice varies among countries. Discounting moderately explains vaccination behavior, with notable differences across nations. The high discount rate among hesitant people may cause them to undervalue future COVID-19 consequences.
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| CHDS Publications - Selected Recent
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Perkins RB, Guido RS, Castle PE, Chelmow D, Einstein MH, Garcia F, Huh WK, Kim JJ, Moscicki AB, Nayar R, Saraiya M, Sawaya GF, Wentzensen N, Schiffman M. 2019 ASCCP Risk-Based Management Consensus Guidelines: Updates Through 2023. J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2024 Jan 1;28(1):3-6. PMID: 38117563.
Dupuis R, Block JP, Barrett JL, Long MW, Petimar J, Ward ZJ, Kenney EL, Musicus AA, Cannuscio CC, Williams DR, Bleich SN, Gortmaker SL. Cost Effectiveness of Calorie Labeling at Large Fast-Food Chains Across the U.S. Am J Prev Med. 2024 Jan;66(1):128-137. PMID: 37586572.
Di Cesare M, Perel P, Taylor S, Kabudula C, Bixby H, Gaziano TA, McGhie DV, Mwangi J, Pervan B, Narula J, Pineiro D, Pinto FJ. The Heart of the World. Glob Heart. 2024 Jan 25;19(1):11. PMID: 38273998.
Stein DT, Reitsma MB, Geldsetzer P, Agoudavi K, Aryal KK, Bahendeka S, Brant LCC, Farzadfar F, Gurung MS, Guwatudde D, Houehanou YCN, Malta DC, Martins JS, Moghaddam SS, Mwangi KJ, Norov B, Sturua L, Zhumadilov Z, Bärnighausen T, Davies JI, Flood D, Marcus ME, Theilmann M, Vollmer S, Manne-Goehler J, Atun R, Sudharsanan N, Verguet S. Hypertension Care Cascades and Reducing Inequities in Cardiovascular Disease in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Nat Med. 2024 Jan 26. PMID: 38278990.
Regan M, Li Y, Swartwood NA, Barham T, Asay GRB, Cohen T, Hill AN, Horsburgh CR, Khan A, Marks SM, Myles RL, Salomon JA, Self JL, Menzies NA. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Diagnosis and Treatment Outcomes among US-Born People Diagnosed with Tuberculosis, 2003-19: An Analysis of National Surveillance Data. Lancet Public Health. 2024 Jan;9(1):e47-e56. PMID: 38176842.
Lee MM, Barrett JL, Kenney EL, Gouck J, Whetstone L, McCulloch S, Cradock AL, Long MW, Ward ZJ, Rohrer B, Williams DR, Gortmaker SL. A Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Excise Tax in California: Projected Benefits for Population Obesity and Health Equity. Am J Prev Med. 2024 Jan;66(1):94-103. PMID: 37553037.
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Media Hub UpdatesNew Educational Innovation Scholar
CHDS welcomes Jacob Jameson as a 2024 Educational Innovation Scholar. Jameson will contribute to the development of a learning module related to queuing theory, the mathematical study of waiting lines. Materials aim to build literacy in this fundamental Operations Research concept for healthcare and more broadly.
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Educational Innovation Scholar Progress
Janice Jhang and Andrea Luviano share their work from the past year as CHDS Educational Innovation Scholars. Each student contributed to the development of educational materials. Luviano primarily focused on utility elicitation and the value of health and Jhang focused on diagnostic testing and Bayes’ theorem.
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Featured ResourceCollection: Diagnostic Tests, Bayes, and COVID-19
Curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, this collection provides a curated set of articles, perspectives, and interactives about diagnostic testing for COVID-19. Materials are particularly useful for educators who are teaching diagnostic test performance, value of information, and probability revision using Bayes’ theorem.
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