2020 Annual Conference

The University of South Carolina’s National Big Data Health Science (BDHS) Conference, a signature annual event of the UofSC Big Data Health Science Center (BDHSC), was held on February 9 -11, 2020. The 2020 conference theme “Unlocking the Power of Big Data in Health: Partnerships among Industry, Government and Academia” focused on forging relationships between stakeholders across the spectrum of Big Data health science research and practice.

Speakers for the 2020 Annual Conference included leaders from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Augusta Health, Geisinger Health System, IBM Watson Health, New Jersey Hospital Association, Palmetto GBA, SAS Institute, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), SC Revenue and Financial Affairs Office, and leaders from dozens of academic institutions from across the country and world.

The National BDHS Conference has a substantive focus on big data in electronic health records, geospatial, social media, genomics, and bio-nanomaterials; and addresses the need for Big Data analytics in health-related research, service, and academic training. Workshops and thematic sessions spun electronic health records, geospatial, social media, genomics and nano-biomaterial at the 2020 conference. Furthermore, leaders from various areas of the health sciences, government, and academia provided keynote speeches and moderated concurrent research presentations.

More detailed information about speakers, panels, workshops and other conference details is available on the conference website.

Keynote Speakers

Susan K. Gregurick, Ph.D.

Associate Director for Data Science and Director of the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) at the National Institutes of Health (Government)

James S. Marron, Ph.D.

The Amos Hawley Distinguished Professor of Statistics and Operation Research at the University of North Carolina

Brandon K. Fornwalt, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate professor, Department of Imaging Science and Innovation (DISI) at Geisinger Health System

W. David Patterson, Ph.D.

Director of the Health and Demographics Division of the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office

Penny Cooper, DHSc.

Data Scientist at Augusta Health in Virginia

Christopher Lofts, R.N.

Nurse Consultant for the Center for Program Integrity’s Provider Compliance Group, and Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for the Electronic Medical Documentation Interoperability (EMDI) Initiative

Pallavi Talekar

Project Manager of the Electronic Medical Documentation Interoperability (EMDI) initiative, MS Information Systems, Certified SAFe® 4 Agilist, Certified SAFe® 4 Scrum Master

Eric Poon, M.D., MPH

Chief Health Information Officer at Duke Health

Theodore (Ted) Tanner Jr.

Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Architect

Joseph Hogan, Ph.D.

Carole and Lawrence Sirovich Professor of Public Health, Professor of Biostatistics, and Deputy Director of the Data Science Initiative at Brown University

Anna Shalkham, M.D.

Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Lexington Medical Center

Cathleen Bennett, Esq.

President and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association

Steve Kearney, Ph.D.

Medical Director at SAS

Dianne Davis

SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, Health and Demographics Division

Paul Gerrard, M.D.

Medical Director at Palmetto GBA

Kenneth R. Deans Jr.

President & CEO of Health Sciences South Carolina