Spotlight on: 🔦Anne Lee Steele🔦

Anne Lee Steele (she/her) Strategy and Engagement Lead, DSxHE

Contact:

www.aleesteele.com (@aleesteele on most spaces)

What does your job actually entail?

I’m working with the DSxHE team this year to develop the

next round of their community strategy. What this translates into: reading lots of similar documents, talking to members of

this wonderful community, working with team members to review documentation… and then drafting, rewriting, then rewriting again!

When not at work, you can be found...

Outside!

What should people reach out to you for help on/with? (ie your community “offers”)

All things ethnography, qualitative data, open source, community practices, and creative communication.

What would like help with from members of the DSxHE community? (ie your community “asks”)

I’d love to learn about what open practices look like for you and your field. Health data is one of those areas that is at the frontlines of emergent data practices and ethical dilemmas. They’re very complex - and I’m always interested in understanding how differently people navigate these questions, tensions, and ways of working.

What’s your interest in data science and/or health equity?

See above! I think the intersection of data science and health is an interesting one. As an anthropologist by training, I often feel like I more intuitively understand the social aims of health equity work. But after years of working with scientific communities, I've become a lot more acquainted with the data science side of things and the tensions inherent to the data pipeline of research. I like to think that both experiences have made me a more grounded and nuanced advocate for better socio-technical systems.

What’s a skill/expertise you have in data science/health equity - How did you learn/develop it and how might others do so to?

I’m a firm believer in (and user of) interdisciplinary methods, and how to combine qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand a problem from multiple angles. I think interdisciplinary work requires real skills that you can learn – but perhaps more importantly, a humility required to embrace difference and the process of being a beginner.

What is the cringiest thing you did as a teenager?

Too many things to count! But one of the cringiest was that I made Myspace layouts back in the day (and even had a website where I offered my ‘services’. I totally thought I was a hacker because of it!).

What object do you misplace or lose the most?

Ugh - my sunglasses. I’ll never have an expensive pair, ever again.

What is your favorite thing to do in the summertime?

Be near bodies of water. A few favorites: the ocean (duh!), the Hampstead Heath ponds, and the West Reservoir near Finsbury Park.

What is your hidden talent?

I can hold my breath for about 4 and a half minutes – as an ex-swimmer and a fledgling freediver.