The Specialists

Dr. Andrea Love and Dr. Jessica Steier

| Rebekah Jones

The Professionals Cohort (Pennsylvania and Florida)

This is an abbreviated version of our interview. The full interview will be uploaded in the near future.
Dr. Andrea Love (Pennsylvania) and Dr. Jessica Steier (Florida). Photo credit: Josh Pelta-Heller

As the only nominee team of our all our nominees, both Dr. Andrea Love (Pennsylvania) and Dr. Jessica Steier (Florida) would independently be finalists in our professionals and/or specialists cohort if we split them up.

We chose to select Dr. Love and Dr. Steier as a team in our finalists cohort because of their joint commitment to public information during COVID-19 through their weekly Unbiased Science podcast.

From Dr. Jessica Steier:

“I am a public health data scientist with expertise in health policy evaluation and advanced data analytics to support population health improvement efforts. I’m the co-founder and CEO of Vital Statistics Consulting– a woman-owned public health data analytics firm engaged in projects such as the mix-methods evaluation of a statewide comprehensive primary care initiative in a midwestern state. “

Dr. Jessica Steier (Florida)
Photo credit: Josh Pelta-Heller

“Most relevant to the pandemic, I designed and led a SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey for one of the largest FQHCs in the country, for which I am also developing a COVID-19 data dashboard. I am currently leading research on disparities in COVID-19 test positivity and vaccine uptake across different sociodemographic groups and subpopulations, as well as investigating impacts on other COVID and non-COVID related outcomes such as healthcare utilization, changes in preventive and wellness visits, and long-term outcomes.

“I launched the Unbiased Science Podcast, which I co-host with my brilliant immunologist colleague, Dr. Andrea Love, which aims to translate and communicate scientific research to the general public. Lastly, I teach coursework in biostatistics and epidemiology to clinical students with the goal of emphasizing the importance of the critical appraisal of evidence and life-long learning.”

From Dr. Andrea Love:

“I am an immunologist and microbiologist previously from academic research who currently works full-time in the biotech industry on research and assay development for cancer biology, immunotherapy, vaccine research and development, and other fields. “

Dr. Andrea Love (Pennsylvania)
Photo credit: Josh Pelta-Heller

“Science literacy and education is a passion of mine, and I’ve sought out other opportunities throughout my career to serve as a resource and subject matter expert to promote access to credible science. Once the pandemic started, I felt an obligation as someone in the field to provide distilled explanations and information to the general public, especially with the real-time emergence of data that was shared (and often misinterpreted) by media outlets, government agencies, and other organizations around the world.”

“After some time doing this on my personal social media pages, I joined forces with an old college classmate, public health scientist Dr. Jess Steier, to form the Unbiased Science Podcast. We provide continuous updates on the pandemic – from the science behind the novel virus, mechanisms of infection and transmission, mitigation measures and evolving recommendations, tracking infection metrics, emergence of variants, demographics and distribution of morbidity and mortality, and of course the ongoing clinical trials and regulatory review of vaccines.”

“One of the unique aspects of our project is that we collate and provide data in multiple modalities in order to effectively tackle the spread of disinformation. We have a weekly podcast that covers an array of scientific topics, many of which are directly related to COVID-19, vaccine research and development, public health, and clinical trials. We have active presences on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn) where we create daily infographics, data summaries, and other updates related to the pandemic. “

“And finally, we are actively engaged with media outlets, and have been interviewed by Philly Magazine, NBC News, VeryWell, (as examples), in addition to penning our own op-Ed discussing the need for scientists to join forces with the media to spread credible data. It is a multi-pronged approach that is overcoming the dearth of reliable data amongst a sea of disinformation.”

A few words from those who nominated Dr. Andrea Love:

“Andrea has been on the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus doing vaccine research. She uses her personal time to educate the community on the pandemic and best ways to stay safe, and is always available to answer everyone’s questions. She is a tireless advocate for real science and believes passionately in providing the public with honest and accurate information. Though she is frequently attacked by deniers/hoaxers, she engages them in a professional manner and remains grounded in facts and science in providing counterpoints. She is an inspiration to everyone around her and deserves to be recognized for the front-liner, first-responder, and champion of science that she is.”

“Dr. Andrea Love and is devoted to objective, critical appraisal of available evidence on science and health-related topics relevant to listeners’ daily lives.”

A few words from those who nominated Dr. Jessica Steier:

“Dr. Steier has worked tirelessly since the beginning of the pandemic. She launched a podcast (Unbiased Science) and social media page aimed at scientific communication for the general public in an attempt to make science more accessible. She is a public health scientist, applied statistician, and health policy expert by training but somehow managed to translate research in a way that is understandable for all. As CEO of Vital Statistics Consulting, she has also designed and led COVID-related research looking at test positivity rates across different subpopulations with an emphasis on the underserved. She has also led a multi-day summit with other experts in the field to translate COVID science, as well as a panel with faith-based leaders of contained communities aimed at combatting distrust of science and the medical establishment. She does all of this while being a mother to two young children and juggling lots of matters in her personal life. She is a real data shero!”

“Jessica has persisted relentlessly since the onset of the pandemic to educate and inform without insult or judgement about everything COVID. She has responded instantly to rumors with scientific fact and answered questions before we even knew we had them. She has aligned and acknowledged, empathized and sympathized always with passion and compassion yet never compromising her ultimate goal to educate based on fact.”

Click here to to visit the Unbiased Science podcast website.

Click here to visit Dr. Andrea Love’s Twitter page.

Jason Salemi

| Rebekah Jones

The Specialists Cohort (Florida)

We are working to complete our profiles for the more than 500 nominees submitted during the month of February. If you’d like to add to this profile, please email us at: Contact@Data-Usa.org

Jason Salemi (Florida)

Dr. Jason Salemi is an Associate Professor with joint appointments in the at the University of South Florida College of Public Health and the Morsani College of Medicine. He also maintains adjunct faculty status at his former institution, Baylor College of Medicine.

“I have a demonstrated record of collaborative research, scholarly publication, teaching and advising, and participation in public health organizations and professional associations” Jason writes on his website.

“I have amassed a substantial and versatile proficiency in database development, data linkage, management, and analysis, program and systems evaluation, community engagement, and information dissemination. I am a passionate public health professional committed to solving problems and creating conditions that enable people to lead healthy, productive lives.”

Jason built a reputation in Florida as an honest, transparent and vigilant reporter of data and trends through his website and Twitter feed. Jason makes all of his data available to the public for free, and has invested countless hours in keeping Florida honest, never deterred by anti-mask, anti-vaccines and pro-government harassment. His commitment to data access, transparency and data visualization may be unmatched in the state of Florida.

Graph depicting the lag in COVID-19 death reporting in Florida on Jason’s COVID-19 tracking site.

A few words from those who nominated Jason:

“Dr. Salemi is consistent, transparent, dependable, creative, and trustworthy.”

“Non partisan data. Responsive to requests. The best in the state. Doing it for nothing but to inform.”

“With all the misinformation out there and cover-ups in our state and by our governor, Florida is lucky to have so many data heroes like Jason and Rebekah out there. They give us the truth when the government won’t!”

Click here to follow Jason on Twitter

Click here to visit Jason’s data site.

Click here to visit Jason’s personal site.

Dr. Theresa Chapple

| Rebekah Jones

The Specialists Cohort (Georgia)

Dr. Theresa Chapel (Georgia)

Dr. Theresa Chapple has dedicated the last 13 months to combating misinformation about COVID-19, building her science communication skills to teach the public about Covid-19 prevention approaches, and advocating for data-driven public policy to address the pandemic.

Since June, she’s worked with 27 school districts across the country to aid in Covid-19 data and research interpretation, setting data related metrics for reopening and closings, and identifying and training on risk mitigation approaches.

She has also utilized platforms such as social media and traditional media to share public health prevention messages and translate research into language understandable by the masses.

Her thought-provoking and thoroughly researched messages on school reopening challenged narratives being pushed by economists who intentionally misled the public about the risks associated with in-person learning during the pandemic.

She breaks the data down, offers analysis and context, and is one of the most responsive experts for COVID-19 information on Twitter.

“There’s a reason Dr. Chapple put this [COVID-19 outbreaks in schools and childcare settings] exhaustingly long list together, and why it’s still growing,” Karen Johnson wrote in Yahoo! News last August. “She wants us to realize and truly understand that this is what happens when people gather in groups. When adults gather in groups. When teens gather in groups. And when children gather in groups. Camps, daycare centers, and how it will be schools.”

A few words from those who nominated Dr. Chapple:

“Dr. Chapple may be the most courageous woman I’ve encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic. She unabashedly challenges misinformation in a confident and assertive way that doesn’t come off as talking down to people.”

“When a lot of junk science about schools came out from people with no subject-matter expertise, Dr. Chapple confronted them with the realities of what the real science and data showed, and by doing so likely saved many lives.”

Click here to follow Dr. Chapple on Twitter.

Jorge Caballero

| Rebekah Jones

The Provocateurs Cohort (California)

As a Stanford University physician with more than a decade of experience working with health data, Dr. Jorge Caballero could easily fit into both the specialists and the professionals groups of our awards program. His work during COVID-19 would indeed make him a finalist in either of those cohorts.

Dr. Jorge Caballero

Dr. Caballero’s advocacy for data access and transparency, and his continued commitment to communicating the racial and ethnic disparities in testing, cases and vaccinations shown in the data, makes him stand out as a Provocateur.

In March 2020, Dr. Caballero cofounded Coders against Covid, a volunteer group that builds tech solutions to address the most pressing needs of those affected by COVID-19, challenging his local, state and federal officials to step up.

Dr. Caballero built the first nation-wide COVID-19 testing site directory in mid-March 2020, before most states even had comprehensive lists of their own testing site facilities.

Shortly thereafter, Coders against Covid joined FEMA’s crowdsourcing initiative, and were connected with GISCorps, a volunteer group of geospatial information specialists. The partnership built the most comprehensive database of COVID-19 testing locations in the country, providing maps and tools to find your nearest testing site, operations hours, appointment scheduling, and more.

Dr. Caballero also uses the power of his position and his Twitter account to share data and information about the state of Coronavirus in California and across the country on a daily basis. He keeps up with data in Arizona and Nevada, even sharing the work of our other COVID-19 Data Hero Award nominees:

When California lifted its curfew and stay-at-home orders in January, Dr. Caballero made sure the public was aware that the data did not support such a move.

“Of course, all that flies out the window when it comes to extended contact that’s unmasked, as one might expect from, say, outdoor dining. It’s exactly that paradox that prompted an angry tweetstorm from Stanford doctor Jorge A. Caballero, who says that “The data does NOT support lifting restrictions— this would be Newsom caving to political pressure, again,” perhaps referring to an anti-vaccination/Republican-led recall effort against the governor. Caballero warns that even now, the devastating surge in Southern California “is moving up the state: through the central valley and into the SF Bay Area.”

San Francisco, Jan. 25, 2021

When California spent $62.5 million on a contract with Verily – a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet – which led Trump to erroneously claim Google was building a site to help Americans find testing locations (a site Dr. Caballero would end up creating), Dr. Caballero stepped up and spoke out.

But the [Verily] partnership has also faced criticism from public health experts from the start, and left some elected officials in California frustrated by what they describe as a misguided approach to testing vulnerable communities.

Dr. Jorge Caballero, a Stanford physician and co-founder of the public testing database Coders against COVID, began warning CDPH contacts in April that poorer areas remained underserved by state testing sites. As he fielded requests in Spanish for help with the platform, it seemed that Verily wasn’t “nimble enough to address the demand and the evolution of the demand,” Caballero said.

“This whole strategy was just sort of backwards from the get-go,” Caballero said. “Why were we spending this money if it wasn’t solving problems, and it was creating additional problems?”

Mercury News, Feb. 25, 2021

Not one to play partisan politics, Dr. Caballero calls out, defends, and makes policy recommendations to all of the science and data-backed decisions made across the country. His advocacy, insight and persistent communications about what the data tells us has impacted communities across the country, saving countless lives in the process.

A few words from those who nominated Dr. Caballero:

“If everyone would have just listened to him from the start, we would all be so much better off. California has made little effort to work with Hispanic communities, to communicate data with us regularly. It’s like we don’t matter. We’re dying and we don’t matter. The only person who seems to care is the doctor.” [Note: This submission was translated from Spanish]

“Jorge’s reputation as a physician, a scientist, as the “Data-driven MD,” could not be over-stated. I’ve never met a man who has worked harder to ensure accurate information reaches the public, that the accurate information is advocated for, and that the activism results in meaningful discussion and, hopefully, policy change. No one else could possibly be more worthy of a Data Hero Award than Jorge Caballero.”

Click here to follow Dr. Jorge Caballero on Twitter.

Click here to visit the Coders Against Covid Twitter page, or click here to see the Coders Against Covid website.

Eileen White

| Rebekah Jones

The Provocateurs Cohort (Indiana)

NPR interview with Eileen White and Caroline Buckee, from Dec. 13, 2020

Eileen White resigned from her position as the sole epidemiologist in the newly-formed Fishers, Indiana health department after the mayor began interfering with how data was being represented to the public.

Eileen White (Indiana)

“It became clear that no matter what I did to help make data more transparent for my community, I simply could not honestly communicate about the data when working in local public health in Indiana, amidst a huge amount of political pressure.”

“It went very public very quickly and was incredibly uncomfortable,” Eileen said.

Eileen became a reluctant, though much-needed voice for reason and transparency, challenging the misleading information being put out by her local officials, especially when that misleading data related to schools and school safety during COVID-19.

Eileen wanted to adhere to the Harvard Key Metrics for Covid Suppression that had just been released for community risk mitigation.

“We developed community metrics to help guide our community health around risk and school closings and openings,” she explained. “The metrics said we were in one stage, and the mayor decided that we were in another and told the schools to open fully when that’s not what the metrics indicated.”

So she left a health department she had uprooted her life to assist.

She created “Public Health Is Your Job, Too” as both a website and Facebook resource for those looking to better understand COVID-19 in her state, and to advocate for science communication and public health.

She received threats. Her neighbors shunned her. Several times, she’d go outside and find her car doors left opened or ajar.

In the end, she had to move.

Eileen was by no means a public figure before she left the health department – she averaged about one tweet a month before she quit in protest of the local government’s political interference in science and medicine. After she resigned, she started a Facebook page to share public health data with the public.

Eileen wanted to adhere to the guidelines on reopening schools, but the mayor didn’t. She wanted communication about the risk of schools to be clear, but the mayor didn’t. And when push came to shove, her own health department wouldn’t back her up against the political interests trying to minimize the impact their policy decisions would cause.

“There are many of us that have felt powerless, silenced. The data may indicate one thing. The policy decisions that are made at the top by the politicians and even some of the directors do not follow data,” Eileen remembers.

“We have to be careful to say what we know and don’t know and why. What we know about kids is still under investigation, everything so far indicates they spread at least as much as adults,” she wrote.

Indeed, Mayor Scott Fadness made unilateral changes to the policies regarding reopening school, reminding the health department during one public meeting that it wasn’t up to the health department when and how schools opened.

“I did my best to hold the local and state health departments accountable for decision making and poor data interpretation , and held our state accountable for the absolute gutting of public health funding and investment in Indiana,” she said.”

Still somewhat shaken from the near-constant assault of her work and her personal life, led by anti-maskers, anti-lockdowners and “open schools NOW” pushers, Eileen looks forward to what’s next for her, even if it isn’t where she expected life to take her.

“It’s been a very long year, but I take heart that my work in data and public health education have informed Fishers, Indianapolis and surrounding areas on how to look at the information they are being given, how to ask questions, and how to challenge a political narrative that is very clearly without real, solid, vetted data behind it.”

Eileen graciously requested not to be considered a finalist, noting on her Facebook page: “I have been a strong advocate for science, data and my community, but I have gone nowhere near the levels of work of my co-nominees. These amazing folks are doing incredible work, and I hope that their careers are improved with this honor and well-deserved attention.”

We disagree.

Eileen’s commitment to science education under immense pressure and even threats exemplifies everything this awards program is about. Still somewhat uncomfortable with her new-founded celebrity and trying to work her way through the emotional toll of her experiences, Eileen struggles to be brave. Yet, those who do not struggle to be brave are not nearly as heroic as those who must fight each day to find it within themselves to go on.

Even though Eileen may not (yet) be a national figure like some of other nominees, she shares the stage with equal credibility, transparency, advocacy, and grit as everyone else.

Our program was designed not to give praise to those who already have the lectern, but to recognize those whose work within their communities, states or regions across the US and Canada profoundly changed conversations, challenged misinformation, and who paid a price in doing so.

Click here to follow Eileen on Twitter.
Click here to see Eileen’s Facebook page.
Click here to see Eileen’s website.

Dr. Amber Schmidtke

| Rebekah Jones

The Specialists Cohort (Georgia)

Dr. Amber Schmidtke (Georgia)

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Dr. Amber Schmidtke recognized there was a large gap between the way that scientists communicate and how non-scientists receive information.

So she made it her mission to reach out to other experts, journalists and the public to work on clear and effective communication about COVID-19.

And she did so in a state that has been among the least transparent and accessible with Coronavirus data in the country — Georgia.

“She has shared and broken down the real facts and meaning behind the Covid numbers for us Georgians when we could not trust our health department to report the data honestly,” wrote one person who nominated Dr. Schmidtke for our program.

Friendly, patient and comforting, she has become one of the most trusted voices in Georgia for analyzing and understanding the COVID-19 pandemic.

A self-described “data nerd,” Dr. Schmidtke worked at Mercer University as a professor in the School of Medicine when the pandemic started.

Dr. Schmidtke earned a Ph.D. in medical microbiology and immunology from Creighton University in Nebraska, and completed her postdoctoral research fellowship in the CDC’s Pertussis and Diphtheria Laboratory, later becoming a microbiologist for the Atlanta-based health protection agency.

She has combined her roles as a public health specialist and college educator to provide meaningful analysis and explanation of disease trends to the public through a popular newsletter and podcast.

As a result of those communication efforts she was invited to serve as a member of the Georgia COVID-19 Data State Task Force, advising government agencies on how to package their complex data to meet the needs of the public.

Dr. Schmidtke frequently informs the public on the issue of school safety during COVID-19, wading into an obscenely politicized debate, using the science and data to advocate for ensuring CDC protocols are closely followed and that teachers are able to get vaccinated.

Dr. Schmidtke warned the public in February when a national cheerleading competition in Atlanta brought more than 40,000 people to the event. She noted the timing of the event, and the risk attendees might bring home or spread the B.1.1.7 variant, of which Georgia ranks fifth in the country for confirmed cases.

An article from the Mercer University newsletter detailed how Dr. Schmidtke joined the state task force to help with presenting data to the public.

“She works most closely with the Georgia Geospatial Information Office, which maps data, and has helped the health department refine how the information is presented on its website,” the article stated.

When data from Georgia would go missing or was suspicious, Dr. Schmidtke called them out, worked to find answers, and led her state (and the country) by example with her steadfast, data-driven approach.

Though with her calming and disarming demeaner, she tries to always end on a positive note, even if the risk is grave.

“I understand and acknowledge that anxiety that people are feeling. The good news is the measures we’ve been recommending this whole time will help us to limit transmission of these new variants and that’s really what we should be focused on right now,” said Dr. Schmidtke in an interview last month.

Dr. Schmidtke’s continued energy and enthusiasm for reporting data and being an accessible, reliable, trustworthy source for Georgia and beyond make her a true data hero.

A few comments from those who nominated Dr. Schmidtke:

“Dr. Schmidtke not only kept up with very hard to acquire data to keep Georgians informed when the state failed to do so, she also put it in a very accessible format. She has been informative about the state’s true numbers (GA never reported rapid test results) and realistic in her assessments of hospital capacities. Her emails have been calming because they are honest and although they contain a lot of data they are so clear they are never overwhelming. I’m grateful for her hard work, her empathy, and her patience.”

“As Georgia DOH struggled with their own reporting, Amber filled in the blanks with her multiple-times-a-week analysis and explanations. She made the data come to life and wasn’t afraid to give her opinion on what it meant. Her explanations are so clear. She also then replies to comments and answers questions. She moved to Kansas and picked up reporting there but continued with GA!”

Click here to view Dr. Schmidtke’s Substack.

Click here to follow Dr. Schmidtke on Twitter.

Dr. Anne Zink

| Rebekah Jones

The Specialists Group (Alaska)

If the true measure of a person’s character can be derived from how they treat their inferiors, then Dr. Anne Zink would score aces.

Dr. Anne Zink (Alaska)

Members of her team have publicly praised her expertise, humility, and empathy.

“She encourages Alaskans to take care of each other, and to check in on neighbors who may need a helping hand,” wrote Sarah Erkmann Ward, an Anchorage communications consultant who worked with Dr. Zink during the crisis.

“She is the right person at the right moment that we never knew existed,” Erkmann told Alaska Public Radio.

Dr. Zink is the Chief Medical Officer for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, and she began her regular updates on COVID-19 long before the virus reached her state.

“I want to make sure you have the latest information at your fingertips,” Dr. Zink wrote in her monthly newsletter in February 2020.

Dr. Zink’s team developed user-friendly web tools for Alaskans to see if they’re eligible for vaccines and make vaccine appointments.

Alaska Public Media wrote about Dr. Zink’s dedication and skill with communicating complex science with the public.

She’s also been widely praised for… her ability to work with others, project calm under pressure and communicate in a clear and relatable way.

Alaska Public Media, April 2020

A few words from those who nominated Dr. Zink:

“Dr. Anne Zink from Alaska is a total badass and has been keeping us up to date with accurate data since early March 2020”

“Using a data driven approach, she has wonderfully informed Alaskans about how actions have consequences in the covid crisis (both positive and negative) She has a great humility, but is so deserving of awards! “

Click here to follow Dr. Anne Zink on Twitter.

Award note: Dr. Zink has requested that she not be considered a finalist or be awarded any monetary prizes due to her position with the state.

Dr. Ellen Eaton

| Rebekah Jones

The Specialists Group (Alabama)

Dr. Ellen Eaton is an Infectious Diseases Physician with a Masters in Public Health at the University of Alabama.

Dr. Ellen Eaton (Alabama)

In March 2020, Dr. Eaton began a Facebook page, “Dr. Ellen Eaton Coronavirus Updates,” to combat misinformation she noticed was being shared by friends and family on social media.

“I knew that Alabama would be disproportionately affected by COVID due to low public health access, literacy, and other social determinants of health,” said Dr. Eaton.

“So, I committed my free time to improving public health through data-driven COVID messaging initially targeted to friends, family, friends of friends in the Deep South.”

Dr. Eaton now has more than 12,800 followers on Facebook, 32,497 weekly reaches, and 25,313 weekly engagements with viewers from across the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Syria, and India, she said.

“The most important aspect of my page is clear, consistent, evidence-based clinical and policy updates tailored to a lay audience with little to no medical background (like my hometown of Dothan, Alabama).”

A few comments from those who nominated Dr. Eaton:

“Dr. Eaton has done an exceptional job keeping people updated and informed about COVID-19, and sorting through all the misinformation online. Her posts have been one of the only sources I’ve trusted throughout this pandemic. (And she’s also treating patients at UAB!) She’s a data hero and a healthcare hero too!”

Click here to see Dr. Ellen Eaton’s Facebook page.

Click here to follow Dr. Ellen Eaton’s Twitter page.