David Haynes, PhD

Dr. Haynes is an Assistant Professor with the Institute for Health Informatics at the University of Minnesota. He is a broadly trained health geographer who uses cutting-edge spatial analysis methods to advance our knowledge of health and cancer disparities. He employs GIScience methods and big data tools to answer substantive research questions about disparities and whether dynamics of place (location and time) increases the prevalence of disease in specific sub-populations. GIScience methods—spatial analysis, geocomputation, and geovisulization—are needed to communicate this knowledge to health researchers, practitioners, and broader communities.

Dr. Haynes received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Iowa. After receiving his degree, he worked as a high-performance spatial database developer at the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation. Later, he began his postdoctoral work with the Program in Health Disparities, which is a joint program between the School of Public and Medical School, that focuses on Community Based Participatory Research. Here Dr. Haynes began his collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Health evaluating breast cancer screening rates for under-insured and uninsured populations. Currently, Dr. Haynes has broadened his research agenda to include lung cancer screening and Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions for smoking cessation.