Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Scalable Combinatorial Tools For Health Disparities Research, Michael A. Langston, Robert S. Levine, Barbara J. Kilbourne, Gary L. Rogers Jr., Anne D. Kershenbaum, Suzanne H. Baktash, Steven S. Coughlin, Arnold M. Saxton, Vincent K. Agboto, Darryl B. Hood, Maureen Y. Litchveld, Tonny J. Oyana, Patricia Matthews-Juarez, Paul D. Juarez

Sociology Faculty Research

Despite staggering investments made in unraveling the human genome, current estimates suggest that as much as 90% of the variance in cancer and chronic diseases can be attributed to factors outside an individual’s genetic endowment, particularly to environmental exposures experienced across his or her life course. New analytical approaches are clearly required as investigators turn to complicated systems theory and ecological, place-based and life-history perspectives in order to understand more clearly the relationships between social determinants, environmental exposures and health disparities. While traditional data analysis techniques remain foundational to health disparities research, they are easily overwhelmed by the ever-increasing size …