Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
School of Medicine

She is also an Associate Editor for JAMA and JAMA Network, where she leads the strategy for multimedia in AI and medicine. https://jamanetwork.com/channels/ai

Dr. Hswen’s research has been published in top medical and public health Journals such as, The New England Journal of Medicine, The American Journal of Public Health, Preventive Medicine, Nature npj Digital Medicine, Nature Human Behavior, Nature Scientific Data, JAMA Network Open and JAMA, and her work has been featured in CBC News, Bloomberg News, Nature Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Hswen is in the pursuit of detecting uncomfortable truths and seeks to identify authentic attitudes, feelings, and beliefs that influence population behavior and health. Through the collection of unconventional and underground online social networks, Dr. Hswen captures unfiltered conversations to further understand the connections between social experiences and health. Using new artificial intelligence and machine learning methods she uncovers social patterns of disease to develop unbiased and fair systems of health.

Dr. Hswen has served as Deputy Editor of the Harvard Public Health Review and is on the Editorial Board for Nature Journals Scientific Reports, and Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Dr Hswen was previously a Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University and a Chateaubriand STEM Fellow, the Embassy of France, and The French National Research Agency for researchers to study the environment and health in France. Before joining UCSF, Dr. Hswen was a visiting Assistant Professor at Aix-Marseille School of Economics (AMSE) where she conducted research in behavioral economics in relation to the promotion of public health interventions. Dr. Hswen is interested in the application of behavioral economic theories to enhance the acceptance and adherence of healthy behaviors and the willingness to share information.

Personal interests: 18th-19th century French and Italian Art and Crystal.

• Will Generative AI Tools Improve Access to Reliable Health Information?
  JAMA 2024 Anderer S, Hswen Y
• Digital Avatars and Personalized Voices-How AI Is Helping to Restore Speech to Patients.
  JAMA 2024 Anderer S, Hswen Y
• Generative Artificial Intelligence Should Not Compromise Traditional Medical Education.
  Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 2024 Hswen Y, Nguyen TT
• Reporting Use of AI in Research and Scholarly Publication-JAMA Network Guidance.
  JAMA 2024 Flanagin A, Pirracchio R, Khera R, Berkwits M, Hswen Y, Bibbins-Domingo K
• How Machine Learning Might Help Improve Cardiac Imaging.
  JAMA 2024 Anderer S, Hswen Y
• Blind Spots, Shortcuts, and Automation Bias-Researchers Are Aiming to Improve AI Clinical Models.
  JAMA 2024 Abbasi J, Hswen Y
• AI Developers Should Understand the Risks of Deploying Their Clinical Tools, MIT Expert Says.
  JAMA 2024 Anderer S, Hswen Y
• The impact of abortion bans on short-term housing needs.
  Public health 2024 Sehgal NKR, Hswen Y, Cantor J, Upadhyay UD, Reis BY, Remmel C, Brownstein JS, Rader B
• "Scalable Privilege"-How AI Could Turn Data From the Best Medical Systems Into Better Care for All.
  JAMA 2024 Anderer S, Hswen Y
• How to Navigate the Pitfalls of AI Hype in Health Care.
  JAMA 2024 Suran M, Hswen Y
• How Do Policymakers Regulate AI and Accommodate Innovation in Research and Medicine?
  JAMA 2024 Suran M, Hswen Y
• How AI Assistants Could Help Answer Patients' Messages-and Potentially Improve Their Outcomes.
  JAMA 2024 Abbasi J, Hswen Y
• Travel Time and Costs for Abortion for Military Service Members After the Dobbs Decision.
  JAMA 2024 Rader B, Hswen Y, Sehgal NKR, Brownstein JS
• Clinical AI Tools Must Be Fed the Right Data, Stanford Health Care's Chief Data Scientist Says.
  JAMA 2023 Voelker R, Hswen Y
• Can Predictive AI Improve Early Detection of Sepsis and Other Conditions?
  JAMA 2023 Voelker R, Hswen Y
• A Decade of Tweets: Visualizing Racial Sentiments Towards Minoritized Groups in the United States Between 2011 and 2021.
  Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) 2023 Nguyen TT, Merchant JS, Yue X, Mane H, Wei H, Huang D, Gowda KN, Makres K, Najib C, Nghiem HT, Li D, Drew LB, Hswen Y, Criss S, Allen AM, Nguyen QC
• AI Will-and Should-Change Medical School, Says Harvard's Dean for Medical Education.
  JAMA 2023 Hswen Y, Abbasi J
• Kaiser Permanente's CMO: How AI Might Help Clinicians Address Patients' Social Risk Factors.
  JAMA 2023 Voelker R, Hswen Y
• New AI Tools Must Have Health Equity in Their DNA.
  JAMA 2023 Hswen Y, Voelker R
• Electronic Health Records Failed to Make Clinicians' Lives Easier-Will AI Technology Succeed?
  JAMA 2023 Hswen Y, Voelker R
• The impact of the federal menu labeling law on the sentiment of Twitter discussions about restaurants and food retailers: An interrupted time series analysis.
  Preventive medicine reports 2023 Hswen Y, Moran AJ, von Ash T, Prasad S, Martheswaran T, Simon D, Cleveland LP, Brownstein JS, Block JP
• The inclusion of social determinants of health into evaluations of quality and appropriateness of AI assistant-ChatGPT.
  Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases 2023 Hswen Y, Nguyen TT
• AI in Medicine-JAMA's Focus on Clinical Outcomes, Patient-Centered Care, Quality, and Equity.
  JAMA 2023 Khera R, Butte AJ, Berkwits M, Hswen Y, Flanagin A, Park H, Curfman G, Bibbins-Domingo K
• Mild SARS-CoV-2 infection results in long-lasting microbiota instability.
  mBio 2023 Upadhyay V, Suryawanshi RK, Tasoff P, McCavitt-Malvido M, Kumar RG, Murray VW, Noecker C, Bisanz JE, Hswen Y, Ha CWY, Sreekumar B, Chen IP, Lynch SV, Ott M, Lee S, Turnbaugh PJ
• Structural racism through Sundown towns and its relationship to COVID-19 local risk and racial and ethnic diversity.
  Preventive medicine reports 2023 Hswen Y, Yang F, Le-Compte C, Hurley ME, Mattie H, Nguyen TT
• Examining Twitter-Derived Negative Racial Sentiment as Indicators of Cultural Racism: Observational Associations With Preterm Birth and Low Birth Weight Among a Multiracial Sample of Mothers, 2011-2021.
  Journal of medical Internet research 2023 Nguyen TT, Merchant JS, Criss S, Makres K, Gowda KN, Mane H, Yue X, Hswen Y, Glymour MM, Nguyen QC, Allen AM
• Vigilance and Protection: How Asian and Pacific Islander, Black, Latina, and Middle Eastern Women Cope with Racism.
  Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities 2023 Criss S, Kim M, De La Cruz MM, Thai N, Nguyen QC, Hswen Y, Gee GC, Nguyen TT
• Examining Exposure to Messaging, Content, and Hate Speech from Partisan News Social Media Posts on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2023 Nguyen TT, Yu W, Merchant JS, Criss S, Kennedy CJ, Mane H, Gowda KN, Kim M, Belani R, Blanco CF, Kalachagari M, Yue X, Volpe VV, Allen AM, Hswen Y, Nguyen QC
• Erratum: Author Correction: Individuals' willingness to provide geospatial global positioning system (GPS) data from their smartphone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Humanities & social sciences communications 2022 Hswen Y, Nguemdjo U, Yom-Tov E, Marcus GM, Ventelou B
• Mild SARS-CoV-2 infection results in long-lasting microbiota instability.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2022 Upadhyay V, Suryawanshi R, Tasoff P, McCavitt-Malvido M, Kumar GR, Murray VW, Noecker C, Bisanz JE, Hswen Y, Ha C, Sreekumar B, Chen IP, Lynch SV, Ott M, Lee S, Turnbaugh PJ
• Racism During Pregnancy and Birthing: Experiences from Asian and Pacific Islander, Black, Latina, and Middle Eastern Women.
  Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities 2022 Nguyen TT, Criss S, Kim M, De La Cruz MM, Thai N, Merchant JS, Hswen Y, Allen AM, Gee GC, Nguyen QC
• Individuals' willingness to provide geospatial global positioning system (GPS) data from their smartphone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Humanities & social sciences communications 2022 Hswen Y, Nguemdjo U, Yom-Tov E, Marcus GM, Ventelou B
• Covidseeker: A Geospatial Temporal Surveillance Tool.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2022 Hswen Y, Yom-Tov E, Murti V, Narsing N, Prasad S, Rutherford GW, Bibbins-Domingo K
• Economics of attention: The gender-based bing communication study on depression.
  SSM - population health 2021 Hswen Y, Ulrich N, Elad YT, Bruno V
• The Federal Menu Labeling Law and Twitter Discussions about Calories in the United States: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2021 Hswen Y, Moran AJ, Prasad S, Li A, Simon D, Cleveland L, Hawkins JB, Brownstein JS, Block J
• Analysis of a Vaping-Associated Lung Injury Outbreak through Participatory Surveillance and Archival Internet Data.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2021 Hswen Y, Yom-Tov E
• Exploring discussions of health and risk and public sentiment in Massachusetts during COVID-19 pandemic mandate implementation: A Twitter analysis.
  SSM - population health 2021 Thorpe Huerta D, Hawkins JB, Brownstein JS, Hswen Y
• Real-time geospatial surveillance of localized emotional stress responses to COVID-19: A proof of concept analysis.
  Health & place 2021 Edry T, Maani N, Sykora M, Elayan S, Hswen Y, Wolf M, Rinaldi F, Galea S, Gruebner O
• Influenza forecasting for French regions combining EHR, web and climatic data sources with a machine learning ensemble approach.
  PloS one 2021 Poirier C, Hswen Y, Bouzillé G, Cuggia M, Lavenu A, Brownstein JS, Brewer T, Santillana M
• Public attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination: The role of vaccine attributes, incentives, and misinformation.
  NPJ vaccines 2021 Kreps S, Dasgupta N, Brownstein JS, Hswen Y, Kriner DL
• Estimation of Asthma Symptom Onset Using Internet Search Queries: Lag-Time Series Analysis.
  JMIR public health and surveillance 2021 Hswen Y, Zhang A, Ventelou B
• Early detection of COVID-19 in China and the USA: summary of the implementation of a digital decision-support and disease surveillance tool.
  BMJ open 2020 Hswen Y, Brownstein JS, Xu X, Yom-Tov E
• Person-based machine learning: Accounting for patient experience to explain the nature of schizophrenia.
  Schizophrenia research 2020 Naslund JA, Hswen Y
• Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters.
  Frontiers in public health 2020 Sandifer P, Knapp L, Lichtveld M, Manley R, Abramson D, Caffey R, Cochran D, Collier T, Ebi K, Engel L, Farrington J, Finucane M, Hale C, Halpern D, Harville E, Hart L, Hswen Y, Kirkpatrick B, McEwen …
• Factors Associated With US Adults' Likelihood of Accepting COVID-19 Vaccination.
  JAMA network open 2020 Kreps S, Prasad S, Brownstein JS, Hswen Y, Garibaldi BT, Zhang B, Kriner DL
• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Patient Experiences in the United States: 4-Year Content Analysis of Twitter.
  Journal of medical Internet research 2020 Hswen Y, Hawkins JB, Sewalk K, Tuli G, Williams DR, Viswanath K, Subramanian SV, Brownstein JS
• Investigation of Geographic and Macrolevel Variations in LGBTQ Patient Experiences: Longitudinal Social Media Analysis.
  Journal of medical Internet research 2020 Hswen Y, Zhang A, Sewalk KC, Tuli G, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Digital Surveillance for Monitoring Environmental Health Threats: A Case Study Capturing Public Opinion from Twitter about the 2019 Chennai Water Crisis.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2020 Xiong J, Hswen Y, Naslund JA
• Evaluation of Volume of News Reporting and Opioid-Related Deaths in the United States: Comparative Analysis Study of Geographic and Socioeconomic Differences.
  Journal of medical Internet research 2020 Hswen Y, Zhang A, Freifeld C, Brownstein JS
• Use of social media to assess the impact of equitable state policies on LGBTQ patient experiences: An exploratory study.
  Healthcare (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2020 Hswen Y, Zhang A, Sewalk K, Tuli G, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Detecting reports of unsafe foods in consumer product reviews.
  JAMIA open 2019 Maharana A, Cai K, Hellerstein J, Hswen Y, Munsell M, Staneva V, Verma M, Vint C, Wijaya D, Nsoesie EO
• Social capital and physical health: An updated review of the literature for 2007-2018.
  Social science & medicine (1982) 2019 Rodgers J, Valuev AV, Hswen Y, Subramanian SV
• Comparing Three Methods for Reducing Psychotropic Use in Older Demented Spanish Care Home Residents.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2019 Weeks WB, Mishra MK, Curto D, Petersen CL, Cano P, Hswen Y, Serra SV, Elwyn G, Godfrey MM, Soro PS, Tomás JF
• Using Twitter to Detect Psychological Characteristics of Self-Identified Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Feasibility Study.
  JMIR mHealth and uHealth 2019 Hswen Y, Gopaluni A, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Feasibility of using social media to monitor outdoor air pollution in London, England.
  Preventive medicine 2019 Hswen Y, Qin Q, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Monitoring Online Discussions About Suicide Among Twitter Users With Schizophrenia: Exploratory Study.
  JMIR mental health 2018 Hswen Y, Naslund JA, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Using Twitter to Examine Web-Based Patient Experience Sentiments in the United States: Longitudinal Study.
  Journal of medical Internet research 2018 Sewalk KC, Tuli G, Hswen Y, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Online Communication about Depression and Anxiety among Twitter Users with Schizophrenia: Preliminary Findings to Inform a Digital Phenotype Using Social Media.
  The Psychiatric quarterly 2018 Hswen Y, Naslund JA, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Investigating inequities in hospital care among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals using social media.
  Social science & medicine (1982) 2018 Hswen Y, Sewalk KC, Alsentzer E, Tuli G, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• A Preliminary Evaluation of a School-Based Media Education and Reduction Intervention.
  The journal of primary prevention 2018 Bickham DS, Hswen Y, Slaby RG, Rich M
• County-level assessment of United States kindergarten vaccination rates for measles mumps rubella (MMR) for the 2014-2015 school year.
  Vaccine 2017 Kluberg SA, McGinnis DP, Hswen Y, Majumder MS, Santillana M, Brownstein JS
• Exploring online communication about cigarette smoking among Twitter users who self-identify as having schizophrenia.
  Psychiatry research 2017 Hswen Y, Naslund JA, Chandrashekar P, Siegel R, Brownstein JS, Hawkins JB
• Use of a Digital Health Application for Influenza Surveillance in China.
  American journal of public health 2017 Hswen Y, Brownstein JS, Liu J, Hawkins JB
• Vaccine compliance and the 2016 Arkansas mumps outbreak.
  The Lancet. Infectious diseases 2017 Majumder MS, Nguyen CM, Cohn EL, Hswen Y, Mekaru SR, Brownstein JS
• Improving Physician Recommendations for Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: The Role of Professional Organizations.
  Sexually transmitted diseases 2017 Hswen Y, Gilkey MB, Rimer BK, Brewer NT
• Media use and depression: exposure, household rules, and symptoms among young adolescents in the USA.
  International journal of public health 2015 Bickham DS, Hswen Y, Rich M
• Differences in media access and use between rural Native American and White children.
  Rural and remote health 2014 Hswen Y, Naslund JA, Bickham DS
• Feasibility of an Online and Mobile Videogame Curriculum for Teaching Children Safe and Healthy Cellphone and Internet Behaviors.
  Games for health journal 2014 Hswen Y, Rubenzahl L, Bickham DS
• VIRTUAL AVATARS, GAMING, AND SOCIAL MEDIA: DESIGNING A MOBILE HEALTH APP TO HELP CHILDREN CHOOSE HEALTHIER FOOD OPTIONS.
  Journal of mobile technology in medicine 2013 Hswen Y, Murti V, Vormawor AA, Bhattacharjee R, Naslund JA