INVITED KEYNOTE: SPATIALIZING HEALTH: KEY ISSUES FOR GEOGRAPHY AND THE GEOSCIENCES IN MEDICAL AND HEALTH RESEARCH

This talk addresses the landscape of health research challenges and opportunities generated by three inter-related AAG research initiatives: 1) the AAG Initiative for an NIH-wide Geospatial Infrastructure (funded by NIH and AAG); 2) Geospatial Frontiers of Health and Social Environments (funded by NIH); and 3) Addressing Challenges For Geospatial Data-Intensive Research Communities: Research on Unique Confidentiality Risks & Geospatial Data Sharing within a Virtual Data Enclave (funded by NSF). These AAG initiatives have generated linked and interactive health and spatial data research agendas in the rapidly expanding domains of spatial technology, spatio-temporal data generation, and related research methods. They have also created an increased awareness by health and biomedical researchers of the core role that geography, GIScience, and the Geosciences play in addressing global health and sustainability needs, both in research and in practice.