Big Data and the Opioid Epidemic

Math and Statistics Colloquim on November 12 welcomes featured speaker Kaitlyn Eekhoff, for her talk "Big Data and the Opioid Epidemic."

Math and Statistics Colloquim on November 12 welcomes featured speaker Kaitlyn Eekhoff,  Kaitlyn works for the anti-terrorism and human rights team at a law firm.  Join us at 3:40 pm in North Hall 276 or virtually for her talk "Big Data and the Opioid Epidemic."  If you would like to join virtually, contact Dr. Sunukjian at nss9@calvin.edu.

In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies synthesized pain relief drugs, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, and reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to these opioid pain relievers. Healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. Increased prescription of opioid medications led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive. In 2017 Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency. Kaitlyn works for the law firm Motley Rice, which is one of the nation’s largest plaintiffs’ litigation firms, as a researcher on their anti-terrorism and human rights team. They have been working on the national opioid litigation, which seeks to hold manufactures, distributors, and pharmacies accountable for their roles in contributing to the opioid epidemic. Due to the scale of the epidemic, big data, including opioid distribution and dispensing data, has been a key tool for the litigation team in seeking justice for the victims of the epidemic. This presentation will cover how big data is integral to the opioid litigation as well as the programs and statistical analysis used to make it meaningful to the litigation.

Location details

North Hall 276