Enhancing Brain Injury Surveillance Using Large Language Models and Topic Modeling
Our presentation, Enhancing Brain Injury Surveillance Using Large Language Models and Topic Modeling, was delivered by Dr. Shockley McCarthy at the AI for BI Conference at The Ohio State University on October 17, 2025.
This work introduces an AI-driven framework for improving the detection and contextual understanding of brain injury cases using unstructured medical and administrative text. By applying large language models (LLMs) and structured topic modeling, we extract interpretable patterns from injury narratives and ICD-coded data to identify mechanisms of injury, intent, and underreported cases of intimate partner violence (IPV)–related brain injury.
Integrating methods from public health, law, and computational linguistics, our approach aims to enhance the precision of injury surveillance systems and inform equitable prevention and policy strategies addressing violence-related traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Download the presentation here .
Dr. Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno
Director
I am an interdisciplinary scholar whose research integrates law, public health, social work, and advanced statistics to study childhood adversity, violence-related harm, and neighborhood-level inequities. I lead the ISSUES Lab at Ohio State, translating spatial and legal analysis into policy and practice.
Dr. Karla Shockley McCarthy
Co-Director
Dr. Karla Shockley, PhD, LMSW, TRCC, FSW, is a Principal Investigator and Senior Research Consultant at the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center, where she leads applied health services and population health research. She uses a collaborative team approach to design and execute mixed methods studies, develops survey instrumentation, oversees qualitative and quantitative analyses, and employs various dissemination methods. Her work centers on translating complex data into actionable insights that inform public health.
Dr. Amy Watson-Grace
PhD Candidate, Methodologist
Dr. Amy Watson-Grace is a PhD candidate and occupational therapist with advanced pediatric board certification and extensive clinical and leadership experience.
Taylor Harrington
PhD Candidate, Methodologist
Taylor Harrington, MS, is a PhD candidate in Public Health at The Ohio State University. To investigate how multi-level factors shape health behaviors and outcomes, she integrates advanced computational and geospatial methods, including machine learning (e.g., computer vision, random forests, structured topic modeling, text mining) and geospatial modeling (e.g., Bayesian spatial modeling, remote sensing). Through this work, she aims to generate actionable evidence to inform equitable health policy and community-level interventions.
Malcolm McCarthy
Undergraduate Geospatial Analyst
Malcolm is a third-year psychology major with minors in GIS and ASL studies interested in pursuing a clinical psychology PhD.
Nicolette Peremen
Undergraduate Research Assistant and Writer
Nicolette Peremen is a third-year public health major, working as an undergraduate research assistant and writer.
Olivia McLucas
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Olivia McLucas is an undergraduate student at the Ohio State University. She is majoring in Statistics with a minor in American Sign Language on a pre-law track. Olivia is serving the team as photographer and videographer, while simultaneously working as a researcher assistant for the scholars.