CSSSA - June Webinar

A Discussion on Agent-based Modeling in Healthcare

Abstract: Agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) has been applied far and wide to better understand our world. Each new application domain brings with it the existing cultures of the domain's experts, including expectations and requirements. As such, it is foolhardy to expect agent-based modeling to be standardized across all domains. As practitioners, there is a desire to understand how these domain cultures differ, how they use agent-based modeling, and what the future of agent-based modeling is within those domains. To start to grapple with these grand questions, for the ABMS community, we are proposing to run a series of interviews with experts from different domains to try to map the world of agent-based modeling.

Bios:
Ross A. Hammond is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he is director of the Center on Social Dynamics and Policy. His primary area of expertise is using advanced computational modeling to find practical and effective solutions to pressing policy challenges. His current research topics include chronic disease prevention, obesity, tobacco control, implementation science, food systems and food security, developmental and neurobiological approaches to food choice, social norms and social contagion, physical activity, behavioral epidemiology, and methods to advance utility of computational approaches as policy tools. Hammond received his B.A. from Williams College and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He has authored numerous scientific articles in journals such as Lancet, JAMA Pediatrics, PNAS, American Journal of Public Health, Evolution, and Journal of Conflict Resolution, and his work has been featured in New Scientist, Salon, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, Scientific American, and major news media. Hammond has served in numerous federal policy advisory roles including as an HHS-appointed advisory council member at NIH, an advisory Special Government Employee at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, co-lead of a commissioned report for the U.S. Department of Agriculture on U.S. Dietary Guidelines, and as a member of the Food and Nutrition Board at the National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering. He also holds academic appointments at Harvard School of Public Health, the Santa Fe Institute, and the Brown School at Washington University in St Louis.