Health Informatics Seminar Series: Exploring the Commercial Determinants of Online Gambling Using Machine Learning

Series Overview

The joint Health Informatics seminar series is a collaboration between the Faculty of Information (iSchool) and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. It aims to build bridges between people from these units, who share an interest in and passion for information and communication technology (ICT) for health—reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of Health Informatics, which is at the intersection of information, technology, social sciences, and health. Speakers will discuss their cutting-edge research on a variety of topics.

Session Description

The growing global prominence of online gambling platforms has heightened concerns over its possible harm to users. The unprecedented accessibility and personalization presented by these sites may exacerbate the risk of gambling addictions, fostering detrimental impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Challenges presented by online gambling platforms are compounded by a broader context of structural determinants, including aggressive marketing strategies and evolving social norms. In the following seminar, we will discuss how artificial intelligence models can be leveraged by public health practitioners to strengthen primary prevention efforts, identify those at higher risk of gambling addiction, and support harm reduction and recovery. We will also highlight several ethical considerations associated with deploying these technologies, and provide some preliminary results for our analysis of online marketing strategies.

Speaker Bios

Konrad Samsel

Konrad is a Project Manager at the HIVE Lab (Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation), focusing on focusing on the deployment of machine learning in patient care. He holds a graduate degree in public health epidemiology from the University of Toronto. Driven by an interest in teaching others how to lead systems-level change, he has spent the past several years organizing credited quality improvement (QI) projects for healthcare students. Working with local clinics, he has overseen the completion of nine QI projects, ranging from the integration of new devices to the improvement of existing discharge and documentation processes in health systems. He has also completed a two-year trainee affiliate position with the Temerty Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine, where he supported the development of new educational programs for students and early-career professionals. This work was followed by a traineeship under the Pan-Canadian AI for Public Health Institute.

Zahra Shakeri

Dr. Zahra Shakeri is an Assistant Professor of Health Informatics and Information Visualization and the director of the Health Informatics, Visualization, and Equity (HIVE) Lab at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Calgary and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Gehlenborg Lab in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shakeri’s research centers on health informatics, machine learning, natural language processing, information visualization, precision (public) health, digital health, and social media analysis.