Data Insights
Stories in the data
Personal projects exploring questions in public health, economics, and business strategy, all built with free, publicly available data.
Global Public Health
The Last Mile: Guinea Worm from 3.5 Million Cases to Near-Zero
Guinea Worm disease has been reduced from an estimated 3.5 million cases in 1986 to just 14 in 2024, all without a vaccine or drug. This is one of the most remarkable disease eradication campaigns in history, achieved entirely through behavioral interventions, water filtration, and community-level surveillance. This visualization maps which countries were endemic at different time periods and shows the dramatic decline curve.
Key Insight
Guinea Worm eradication proves that sustained, community-level surveillance and behavioral interventions can eliminate a disease without any pharmaceutical tools. The remaining cases cluster in conflict-affected areas and in animal hosts. The final stretch of eradication is defined by operational and political challenges, not biological ones.
Atlanta Public Health
Mapping Health Disparities Across Atlanta's Neighborhoods
Atlanta is one of the most economically segregated cities in America. Using CDC PLACES census-tract-level data, this visualization shows how health outcomes like diabetes, lack of insurance, mental distress, physical inactivity, and high blood pressure vary dramatically across neighborhoods. A few miles can separate communities with vastly different health profiles, revealing patterns invisible in citywide averages.
Key Insight
Citywide health statistics mask enormous neighborhood-level variation. In Atlanta, diabetes prevalence can range from under 8% to over 20% between census tracts separated by a few miles. These patterns closely track historic patterns of disinvestment and segregation, with direct implications for where public health resources should be deployed.
Finance & Economics
Who Feels Inflation Most: Food Prices and the SNAP Gap
Food prices have surged since 2020, but inflation does not hit everyone equally. This project pairs the FRED food CPI time series with USDA SNAP participation data to show that as food prices rise, the households most dependent on food assistance absorb a disproportionate shock. The divergence between food CPI growth and SNAP benefit levels reveals the structural gap between rising costs and the safety net's response.
Key Insight
Since 2020, food prices have risen roughly 25% while SNAP benefits have not kept pace after the end of pandemic-era emergency allotments. The lowest-income households spend over a third of their income on food compared to under 10% for the highest earners, making food inflation function as a regressive tax. The structural gap between rising food costs and the safety net's purchasing power continues to widen.
Business & Consumer Analytics
Coffee and Groceries: Where Starbucks Clusters and Food Access Gaps Collide
Starbucks locations are a well-known proxy for neighborhood affluence and commercial viability. Overlaying store density with USDA food access data reveals a striking pattern: areas saturated with premium coffee shops often sit adjacent to neighborhoods where residents lack adequate access to affordable groceries. This spatial story shows how commercial investment follows purchasing power, not nutritional need.
Key Insight
Commercial retail investment clusters tightly in high-income, high-traffic areas while adjacent neighborhoods lack basic grocery access. The boundary between Starbucks saturation and food access gaps is sharp and often follows income and racial demographic lines. For business strategists, this pattern reveals both a market gap and a corporate responsibility opportunity.