About the Training

When: June 27 and 28, 2023, 9-11am both days

Format: Online via Zoom

Cost: No-Cost*

*This project is funded in whole or in part under a contract with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. The statements herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Department.

Description

The main consideration of this training is to aid trainees in understanding how these areas of knowledge can facilitate them in their current professional role and how they can maximize the integrity of data-based decision making.

Data analysis can be intimidating because data is often confusing and very messy. As health professionals, we must build our toolkit to best navigate challenges in and around data-driven decisions.

Objectives:

• identify the data origins: primary and secondary sources
• understand different ways data can be collected
• use the steps of a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response

The Trainer

Dr. Nicholas Coombs

Dr. Nicholas C. Coombs is a public health scientist and research statistician. After obtaining his master’s degree in statistics (University of Vermont, ‘15), he moved to Montana to work for the Center for Clinical Translational Research at Billings Clinic (since renamed Collaboration Science & Innovation). Upon gaining perspective of Montana’s unique health challenges, he transitioned back into academia to earn his PhD in public health (University of Montana, ’22). His research explored the multidimensionality of barriers to healthcare access in the United States, namely its effects on rural health systems and persons at risk for mental health impairment. Dr. Coombs’s work intersects between health systems and clinical research. He currently serves as the Data Scientist for Frontier Psychiatry and the Chief Scientific Officer of Piedmont Research Strategies. He is passionate about maximizing access to healthcare for Montanans, and his long-term objectives are to help facilitate a more comprehensive philosophy for how Americans conceptualize overall health and well-being.