Exploring Big Data, and its great promise and serious perils for the delivery of health care, will be the theme of a lecture presented at Queen’s Feb. 7 by Dartmouth College Professor Denise Anthony. The talk – titled Big Data, Cybersecurity, and Health Care – is the first lecture of the Matariki Network of Universities Lecture Series and part of the Queen’s Big Data 175th Anniversary series.

“We are very pleased to host this inaugural Matariki Network lecture. Not only is it an opportunity to deepen our connection with Dartmouth College and our other Matariki partners around the world, but it is a chance to hear from an expert, Dr. Anthony, who brings a wealth of knowledge on a subject that is pertinent to all of us,” says Daniel Woolf, Principal and Vice-Chancellor.

In the lecture, Dr. Anthony will illuminate the important implications of rushing to turn the digital promise into reality, without understanding how Big Data analytics change institutions. For the institutions of health-care delivery, the use of Big Data will require changes in information governance that affect not only the security and privacy of health information, but also the role of patients, the profession of medicine, and the meaning of health itself, says Dr. Anthony in her abstract.

Dr. Anthony, who is vice provost for academic initiatives and professor of sociology at Dartmouth, has held adjunct appointments at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice and at Geisel School of Medicine. She was also research director of the Institute for Security, Technology, and Society from 2008-2013.

During her visit to Queen’s, Dr. Anthony will meet with colleagues and students in the Queen’s Surveillance Studies Centre and continue to develop Queen’s-Dartmouth collaborations through visits with Queen’s senior administrators.

“I am so honoured to be part of Queen’s University’s 175th celebration. What an impressive milestone! The Matariki Network is really a unique and special partnership among seven institutions across seven countries, and this kind of international collaboration seems especially important right now in an uncertain world,” says Dr. Anthony. “I have been a long-time admirer of the Surveillance Studies Centre, and particularly the work of Professor David Lyon and his colleagues and students, who are world leaders in helping us to understand the impact – positive and negative – of Big Data in our world today. I look forward to meeting with many students and scholars at Queen’s University over the course of my visit.”

Dr. Anthony’s lecture will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 pm in the Britton Smith Foundation Lecture Theatre, School of Medicine. A reception will take place beforehand, beginning at 5:30 pm, and all are invited.

The Matariki Network of Universities is composed of seven like-minded, research-intensive universities from around the world. One of the network’s aims is to build on the collective strengths of its member institutions to develop international excellence in research and education. Within the network, each institution is responsible for advancing a key research theme, with Dartmouth focused on cybersecurity.

The Queen’s anniversary series, Big Data 175, has been designed to engage intellectually and practically with a major analytic development and pressing public issue, from multi-disciplinary and cross-campus perspectives. The series, organized by a cross-campus, multi-faculty group, has so far held three events, with more planned for 2017. Visit the website for more details.