The Reliability of Mobile Phone Data

Our mobile phones generate an incredible amount of data inbound and outbound. In today’s episode, Nishant Kishore, a PhD graduate of Harvard University in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, explains how mobility data from mobile phones can be captured and analysed to understand the spread of infectious diseases.

Guest

Nishant Kishore: Nishant is a Steven M. Teutsch Public Health Analytics and Modeling Fellow working in the Global Immunization Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He primarily works in the Polio Eradication Branch. Nishant earned a PhD in Epidemiology and SM in Biostatistics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in July 2020 where his research focused on incorporating mobility and remote sensing data into existing modeling frameworks. This included modeling SARS-CoV-2 transmission within and between populations, evaluating behavior change in response to lockdown notifications and building analytic pipelines to inform response efforts in acute natural disasters. Before pursuing his doctoral studies, Nishant worked as a data manager and a mobile data collection systems developer at the CDC Foundation. In his free time he enjoys biking, rowing and exploring the food scene in Atlanta.