February 4, 2026, Ph.D. Colloquium: Collaborative Research at SC&I
Ph.D. students in the classroom.
“Can digital health technologies and data science transform health professional practice and communication, and ensure health equity?”
Digital health technologies, data science, and AI are often framed as transformative solutions for improving healthcare delivery and advancing health equity. Yet their impacts depend not only on technical innovation, but on how these tools are designed, adopted, interpreted, and embedded in everyday communication and professional practice. In this colloquium, an interdisciplinary team led by Communication and Library and Information Science faculty presents a program of research examining how digital health technologies shape patient–clinician communication, professional workflows, and equity across diverse New Jersey communities.
Drawing on qualitative studies of patients, clinicians, and support staff, alongside computational and participatory design approaches, the team examines how data practices, algorithms, and communication infrastructures can both mitigate and reproduce inequities. Across projects, findings point to constrained visions of technology use, uneven data representation, unrecognized mediation labor, and the importance of involving communities directly in the design of digital health systems.