Ethics of AI in Public Health Data Use and Information Sharing
Recorded On: 10/20/2025
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- Student Member - $5
- Student Non-Member - $10
Public health practitioners are inundated with information and misinformation regularly. Locating evidence-based public health information, analyzing data and translating it into useful digestible dissemination to various audiences is a critical part of the public health role. However, with the dawn of AI, many ethical concerns have arisen related to data privacy and sharing, AI-driven bias, and how to ethically navigate complexities related to AI tools. This presentation will provide a general overview of how bias can get amplified by AI, how to spot it, and how to both prevent and/or interrupt harmful impacts of AI on the interpretation, inference and dissemination of health information. Practitioners from all technological (or non-tech) backgrounds will learn the essentials of ethical AI and the foundational concepts that help guide ethically responsible AI use. AI usage is proliferating in the healthcare space and is affecting the way the public receives, understands and searches for public health information. As public health practitioners, it is imperative to understand the potential benefits and also harms of AI. Recognizing when AI may be perpetuating bias or over-generalizing results that are not applicable to diverse audiences is key to ensuring that AI will not expand existing health disparities. AI, when used correctly, holds great promise to promoting health and making it more accessible if providers are able to utilize it well and recognize its limitations. Attendees will leave this presentation with enhanced tools to understand the way in which AI operates in these spaces and how to insightfully monitor it’s use in the field.
At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Identify ethical concerns in AI usage as a public health practitioner
- Describe ethically responsible ways to utilize AI in a variety of public health and educational settings
Competencies that will be covered include:
8.1.2 Demonstrate ethical leadership, management, and behavior.
4.4.5 Identify implications for practice.
8.1 Practice in accordance with established ethical principles
Sponsored by the Society for Public Health Education, a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is designated for Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES®) and/or Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES®) to receive up to 1.0 total Category I contact education contact hours. Maximum advanced-level continuing education contact hours available are 1.0. Provider ID #98029 and Program ID PM98029_01740DL.
SOPHE is a provider of Certified in Public Health (CPH) Renewal Credits. A total of 1.0 CPH Renewal credits are provided on behalf of the National Board of Public Health Examiners.
Jennifer Schindler-Ruwisch
DrPH
Jennifer Schindler-Ruwisch, DrPH is currently an Associate Professor of Public Health at Fairfield University. She completed her DrPH in Health Behavior at The George Washington University and her MPH at Columbia University. Dr. Schindler-Ruwisch is passionate about maternal-child health and social justice. Her current research focuses on reducing maternal health disparities in contexts like breastfeeding, and mobile health (mhealth)/AI as a means of health promotion, particularly in pregnant and postpartum populations. She enjoys serving on the Board of the Connecticut Public Health Association to enhance membership outreach and on the Board of the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition to advocate for policies and supports for breastfeeding families.
Gayle Walter, PhD, MCHES® (Moderator)
Program Director and Associate Professor
Allen College
Dr. Gayle Walter earned her PhD in Public Health and her Master of Public Health from Walden University. Her undergraduate degree is in health services administration. She is the program director for the undergraduate public health program at Allen College. She has been teaching in higher education for several years both in online instruction and face-to-face instruction. Her areas of interest include the social determinants of health, health care services for diverse populations, and health disparities.
In her commitment to the profession, she has served on several committees for the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and the Iowa Public Health Association (IPHA). She also believes in serving her community and is currently volunteering with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in Linn County, Iowa, the Quality Committee for Crescent Community Health Center, and a member of the Iowa Cancer Consortium.
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