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### How Are Vaccination Rates and Case Rates changing for Measles in 2025?
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The R/Medicine planning committee welcomes your participation in the virtual R/Medicine data challenge. Participants will have from now until Tuesday, May 2oth, 2025 to work on submissions for the challenge. There will be 2 prizes: One \$200 prize for the Student Division, and One \$200 prize for the Professional Division, as well as a guaranteed spot for each division to present the findings at the 2025 R/Medicine conference. The quality of analyses/Quarto docs, as well as tables and visualizations will be considered.
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Changing attitudes towards vaccination in the US have significantly lowered childhood measles vaccination rates, as uptake of the recommended two doses of MMR vaccine before entering school has frequently fallen below the 95% recommended for community immunity.
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### Data Challenge Details
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In this data challenge, you will analyze MMR vaccination rates over time and by geographical area, as well as measles case rates and complications.
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We ask that all analyses be done and submitted as Quarto documents. Participants can submit as an individual or as part of a team (but not both). The maximum team size is 3. Your goal will be to tell a data story about what is happening with measles immunity and outcomes in the US and the world in 2025.
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We encourage you to use any and all of the public datasets available at: <https://github.com/fbranda/measles>. We encourage you to explore any of the csv files at the top level, as well as those in the `measles/USA/data/` folder. Note that a lot of the contemporaneous files are updated each week, so be sure to use the latest data in your final submission.
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As this is an ongoing concern, datasets are being collected and updated in real time, ad we encourage you to document trends, use interactive formats like ggplotly and shiny-live, and to consider forecasting the future with tools like the {forecast} and {tidyverts} packages. One good reference for forecasting from Rob Hyndman can be found [here](https://otexts.com/fpp3/).
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In addition to the provided datasets on this Github site, you may request to use additional publicly available data in your submission by submitting a request (with the dataset) by April 29th, 2025 at 5:00PM ET. If approved, the dataset will be made available to all participants.
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You will be evaluated by judges based on the relevance, completeness, and quality of your submission.
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Judges include:
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Raymond Balise, PhD, University of Miami
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Peter Higgins, MD, PhD, MSc, University of Michigan
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Bryan P. Mayfield, PharmD, MS, Precision Analytical
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#### Example Topics
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- What is the growth rate of measles cases in the US vs Europe?
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- Are there particular counties or states at risk due to low vaccination rates?
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- How are vaccination rates changing over time?
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- What is your projection for the number of measles cases (and complications) in 2026?
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### Guidelines
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**When:** Now - May 20th, 2025
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**Where:** The R/Medicine data challenge is entirely virtual, with information and rules of the challenge available on this website. Updates will be posted on this website.
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**Who you are:** We welcome any participants over age 18, especially undergraduate students, graduate students, and early professional data scientists and biostatisticians. Analysts based in academic institutions, government statistical offices, think tanks, policy labs, and community organizations are encouraged to participate. Participants will be asked to submit to either the Student or Professional category, and we may request verification of eligibility for the student category.
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**What topics you can explore:** Participants can analyze the linked measles data sets in tandem with with any other related publicly available data submitted for approval before April 29th, 2025.
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**Submissions and evaluation:** Participants will conduct their analyses and submit a short project narrative that describes the research question, analytic approach, and key findings. We encourage participants to find creative ways to incorporate tables, visualizations, and other aspects of data storytelling to create a compelling narrative. In addition to their completed analysis with the indicators they used, participants will be asked to submit documentation describing each step of their process. The documentation should be detailed enough as to make the project fully replicable. The narrative, methods, organization, and documentation of each participant's project will be evaluated for relevance, completeness, and quality. More information on evaluation will be added to the FAQs section at the bottom of this page.
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### Prize Information
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Submissions will be judged separately in the Student Division (any level of student, including graduate student) and Professional Division (any post-graduate level position). For each division, the prize will include a guaranteed regular talk slot at the 2025 R/Medicine conference to present the findings, as well as a $200 cash prize.
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Finalists will be **required** to present their project at the R/Medicine conference (must be prerecorded) on the afternoon of Friday, June 13th, 2025.
<li><ahref="#how-are-vaccination-rates-and-case-rates-changing-for-measles-in-2025" id="toc-how-are-vaccination-rates-and-case-rates-changing-for-measles-in-2025" class="nav-link" data-scroll-target="#how-are-vaccination-rates-and-case-rates-changing-for-measles-in-2025">How Are Vaccination Rates and Case Rates changing for Measles in 2025?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#faqs-about-data" id="toc-faqs-about-data" class="nav-link" data-scroll-target="#faqs-about-data">FAQs about Data</a></li>
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<li><ahref="#submit-now-to-participate" id="toc-submit-now-to-participate" class="nav-link" data-scroll-target="#submit-now-to-participate">Submit now to participate!</a></li>
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@@ -159,8 +164,56 @@ <h2 id="toc-title">On this page</h2>
<h3class="anchored" data-anchor-id="how-are-vaccination-rates-and-case-rates-changing-for-measles-in-2025">How Are Vaccination Rates and Case Rates changing for Measles in 2025?</h3>
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<p><br></p>
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<p>The R/Medicine planning committee welcomes your participation in the virtual R/Medicine data challenge. Participants will have from now until Tuesday, May 2oth, 2025 to work on submissions for the challenge. There will be 2 prizes: One $200 prize for the Student Division, and One $200 prize for the Professional Division, as well as a guaranteed spot for each division to present the findings at the 2025 R/Medicine conference. The quality of analyses/Quarto docs, as well as tables and visualizations will be considered.</p>
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<p>Changing attitudes towards vaccination in the US have significantly lowered childhood measles vaccination rates, as uptake of the recommended two doses of MMR vaccine before entering school has frequently fallen below the 95% recommended for community immunity.</p>
<p>In this data challenge, you will analyze MMR vaccination rates over time and by geographical area, as well as measles case rates and complications.</p>
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<p>We ask that all analyses be done and submitted as Quarto documents. Participants can submit as an individual or as part of a team (but not both). The maximum team size is 3. Your goal will be to tell a data story about what is happening with measles immunity and outcomes in the US and the world in 2025.</p>
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<p>We encourage you to use any and all of the public datasets available at: <ahref="https://github.com/fbranda/measles" class="uri">https://github.com/fbranda/measles</a>. We encourage you to explore any of the csv files at the top level, as well as those in the <code>measles/USA/data/</code> folder. Note that a lot of the contemporaneous files are updated each week, so be sure to use the latest data in your final submission.</p>
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<p>As this is an ongoing concern, datasets are being collected and updated in real time, ad we encourage you to document trends, use interactive formats like ggplotly and shiny-live, and to consider forecasting the future with tools like the {forecast} and {tidyverts} packages. One good reference for forecasting from Rob Hyndman can be found <ahref="https://otexts.com/fpp3/">here</a>.</p>
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<p>In addition to the provided datasets on this Github site, you may request to use additional publicly available data in your submission by submitting a request (with the dataset) by April 29th, 2025 at 5:00PM ET. If approved, the dataset will be made available to all participants.</p>
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<p>You will be evaluated by judges based on the relevance, completeness, and quality of your submission.</p>
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<p>Judges include:</p>
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<p>Raymond Balise, PhD, University of Miami</p>
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<p>Peter Higgins, MD, PhD, MSc, University of Michigan</p>
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<p>Bryan P. Mayfield, PharmD, MS, Precision Analytical</p>
<p><strong>When:</strong> Now - May 20th, 2025</p>
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<p><strong>Where:</strong> The R/Medicine data challenge is entirely virtual, with information and rules of the challenge available on this website. Updates will be posted on this website.</p>
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<p><strong>Who you are:</strong> We welcome any participants over age 18, especially undergraduate students, graduate students, and early professional data scientists and biostatisticians. Analysts based in academic institutions, government statistical offices, think tanks, policy labs, and community organizations are encouraged to participate. Participants will be asked to submit to either the Student or Professional category, and we may request verification of eligibility for the student category.</p>
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<p><strong>What topics you can explore:</strong> Participants can analyze the linked measles data sets in tandem with with any other related publicly available data submitted for approval before April 29th, 2025.</p>
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<p><strong>Submissions and evaluation:</strong> Participants will conduct their analyses and submit a short project narrative that describes the research question, analytic approach, and key findings. We encourage participants to find creative ways to incorporate tables, visualizations, and other aspects of data storytelling to create a compelling narrative. In addition to their completed analysis with the indicators they used, participants will be asked to submit documentation describing each step of their process. The documentation should be detailed enough as to make the project fully replicable. The narrative, methods, organization, and documentation of each participant’s project will be evaluated for relevance, completeness, and quality. More information on evaluation will be added to the FAQs section at the bottom of this page.</p>
<p>Submissions will be judged separately in the Student Division (any level of student, including graduate student) and Professional Division (any post-graduate level position). For each division, the prize will include a guaranteed regular talk slot at the 2025 R/Medicine conference to present the findings, as well as a $200 cash prize.</p>
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<p>Finalists will be <strong>required</strong> to present their project at the R/Medicine conference (must be prerecorded) on the afternoon of Friday, June 13th, 2025.</p>
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</section>
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<sectionid="faqs-about-data" class="level3">
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<h3class="anchored" data-anchor-id="faqs-about-data">FAQs about Data</h3>
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