Bariatric surgeon receives Research Data Stewardship Award from Future of Privacy Forum

Thomas Tsai, MD, MPH, a bariatric surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, is among a group of researchers who received the second-annual Research Data Stewardship Award from the Future of Privacy Forum for their collaboration with Google to protect the privacy of data used in the research team’s study on the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Research Data Stewardship award is given to companies and academics who exemplify the ethical use of data, with the common goal of expanding scientific knowledge. Dr. Tsai’s research team evaluated the impacts of state-level policies on both mobility patterns and subsequent COVID-19 case trajectories.

“This award recognizes the value of combining real-world clinical and health policy insights from our research team with anonymized mobility data from Google to collaboratively produce actionable data to guide public health policy,” says Dr. Tsai.

Dr. Tsai’s clinical interests include laparoscopic and robotic surgery for gastroesophageal reflux disease and paraesophageal hernias and complex abdominal wall reconstruction in addition to bariatric surgery. His research focuses on health policy evaluation and on policy- and systems-level interventions to improve the quality and value of surgical care.

Future of Privacy Forum is a nonprofit organization that serves as a catalyst for privacy leadership and scholarship, advancing principled data practices in support of emerging technologies.