Paula Buchanan: American Girl (Extended Version)

Paula Buchanan, writer, researcher, and self-proclaimed data nerd, likes to pose the question “so what?” as she looks at how data should be presented and how tech should not be a gadget in search of a problem. “How can I make it so what I’m researching can help people not just by my taking a more maternalistic view, but how can I empower them to help themselves?” The way she helps people help themselves? Data visualization and research in the realm of public health.

In this episode, Paula tells Melinda about being a woman of color from a middle class upbringing and how her early years and education formed her motto: Never Stop Learning. Paula has combined her education from Tulane University and her experience with the Americorps program to improve the lives of others through data visualization. She has a passion for making data, specifically health information, more easily understood.

A supporter of Girls Who Code and the Southern Data Science Center, Paula believes that combining science and tech allows for a unique opportunity to make complex ideas more accessible. “If you’re in Health services research, you are, to a degree, a public servant...You have to think about, not the technology, but how the technology serves the people.”

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• AmeriCorps places thousands of people into intensive service positions.
• The New Orleans Health Care for the Homeless operates a primary health care clinic and an adolescent drop-in clinic.
• Girls Who Code and Women Who Code
• Paula’s blog on attending the Southern Data Science Conference: a data science R&D conference that brings together experts and researchers from the top data science companies and institutes
• Paula’s article: “Concepts and Uses for Open Data”

MUSICAL INSPIRATION FOR THIS EPISODE ON SPOTIFY: