🎥 Statistical Methods for Health Equity Webinar: Jake Hightower🎥

We were delighted to host Jake Hightower, data science and global health innovator, for the latest instalment of our webinar series on statistical methods for fairness and equity in healthcare.

Topic: Preserving Health Equity in a Global Pandemic Model

Abstract

 In an era of increasingly complex global health threats, pandemic modelling must evolve to reflect not only the spread of disease but the lived realities of those most affected. This talk presents a ground-breaking simulation platform developed for the World Health Organization Pandemic Hub—a global pandemic model capable of simulating any infectious disease across geographies and scales, from continental overviews to neighbourhood-level granularity.

Designed with equity at its core, the simulator integrates high-resolution demographic data to ensure that intervention strategies are evaluated in the context of real populations, their vulnerabilities, and their access to care. Attendees will gain insight into how this tool enables public health leaders to test and compare interventions—such as vaccination campaigns, mobility restrictions, and resource allocation—while preserving the visibility of marginalized communities often overlooked in traditional models.

The goal of this talk is to both demonstrate and interactively discuss how complex statistical and machine learning projects can be faithfully deployed with health equity at its core.

Bio

Jake Hightower is a data science and global health innovator with over 15 years of experience developing and deploying AI/ML solutions to address complex public health challenges. He holds a background in Spatial Epidemiology from the University of Florida, where his research focused on modeling outbreaks of infectious diseases, including Tularemia in Ukraine and Ebola during the 2014 West African epidemic. As the founder of Hightower Tech, an IT consulting firm, Jake leads initiatives that harness technology for social impact, with a strong emphasis on equity, resilience, and community health. His work bridges technical rigor with humanitarian purpose, advancing tools that empower decision-makers and protect vulnerable populations.

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