Helen Thomas-McLean, an MS in Global Health student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, spent her summer working with the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul. She left with a greater appreciation for the importance of “good data,” as well as an appreciation for a city designed to promote wellbeing.
Throughout the summer, Helen primarily worked on a project with the IVI policy and economic research team that attempted to analyze behavioral drivers of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) among women in Bangladesh. Using demographic and health survey data, Helen created a regression analysis to examine women’s self-reported STIs and related symptoms.
The summer was eye-opening from a research standpoint, as Helen found the data analysis less straightforward than she’d expected. She learned firsthand the work that goes into cleaning up datasets to account for missing responses and other anomalies.
“[This] has made me realize just how much work underlies the clean, ready-to-use datasets that have been provided to me for class assignments in my analytical coursework at the Chan School,” she wrote.
The analysis itself was complicated, as well. Early regression models showed that condom use was associated with higher odds of reported STI diagnosis or symptoms, rather than lower odds as expected. Helen hypothesized that some missing variable or reverse causation—women had experienced STI symptoms and then started using condoms—could explain the result. But it also caused her to reflect on social and cultural issues like STI stigma and unequal healthcare access or health literacy, and how these might shape self-reported data.
“This has reinforced for me that improving research requires improving data. Better data not only lead to more reliable statistical models, they also provide a clearer picture of women's sexual health and help inform more effective public health policy.”
Her final analysis concluded that several demographic factors impacted likelihood of women reporting STI diagnosis or symptoms, including number of lifetime sexual partners, partner education level, respondent education level, and recency of sexual activity. After completing her project, she wrote:
"Ultimately, this project has reinforced for me that improving research also requires improving data. Greater access to acceptable and affordable STI diagnostic testing, more detailed surveillance of STI symptoms, and longitudinal data that better capture the timing of both risk factors and disease would all strengthen future studies. Better data not only lead to more reliable statistical models—they also provide a clearer picture of women's sexual health and help inform more effective public health policy."
Outside work, Helen tried to take advantage of a variety of opportunities with colleagues and friends, including visiting the Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health, where she gained “a more holistic sense of the factors that shape a public health research career.”
As she prepared to leave Seoul, Helen said the city had made a lasting impression on her for its intentional design.
"Beyond the friendships I formed at IVI and the opportunity to work on a meaningful project, I came to appreciate how intentionally the city is designed to support everyday well-being,” she wrote. “From parks equipped with outdoor exercise equipment, cooling stations in subway stations during the humid summer, and accessible urban hiking trails, there were many subtle details about day-to-day life here that I will continue to reflect upon long after I return to the US.”
