COVID-19 Service

Local Data Sharing and Forecasting

Professor Fridtjof Thomas, PhD has worked closely with the City of Memphis and Shelby County COVID-19 Joint Task Force - Emergency Support Function #8 Public Health and Medical Services and its Data Subcommittee. Besides contributions to the local hospital resources required as the pandemic unfolds – such as peak hospital bed occupancy – his analyses with respect to short term needs for hospital beds as well as virus activity in the larger Memphis Metropolitan Area are part of the regular presentations at the Joint Task Force Briefings and are also published here: https://www.uthsc.edu/coronavirus/local-data/index.php

Education for Researchers and the Community

The faculty and staff of the Division of Biostatistics put together well-attended virtual presentations, both on Covid-19 data options in general and also on R Shiny. Associate Professor Mehmet Kocak, PhD, discussed the relative position of the US in the pandemic and forecasting methods. Professor Elizabeth Tolley, PhD, presented on early COVID-19 test diagnostics, including positive predictive value. The staff of the division, led by Tristan Hayes, presented on public data sources and visualization methods using R. They also showed methods using R Shiny and Javascript to publicly share these visualizations.  

Turkish Ministry of Health

Associate Professor Mehmet Kocak, PhD, serves as an unofficial adviser to the Turkish Ministry of Health. His work focuses on forecasting and benchmarking the impact of the pandemic, with a focus on peer countries.