Patrick Danso

Health & Medical Geography · University of Florida

Measuring how geography, infrastructure, and policy shape access to health care.

I am a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida, developing spatial models of healthcare and telehealth accessibility. My research asks a simple question with complicated answers: who can actually reach care, and why?

Read my work Get in touch
GitHub Google Scholar ORCID
Travel-time isochrones (illustrative) 29.651° N · 82.325° W

Research

Three threads, one map

01 · telehealth

Telehealth and regulatory geography

Virtual care removes the drive, but not every barrier. I study how regulation and broadband availability decide where telehealth actually works, and how to build those real-world constraints into spatial accessibility models.

02 · methods

Stress-testing accessibility models

Accessibility estimates are only as good as the assumptions behind them. My published work applies global sensitivity analysis and system dynamics to find which inputs really move the results, across both space and time.

03 · cities

Neighborhood change

My master's research traced studentification around Texas Tech University, combining census, property, and field data to show how student housing reshapes the demographics and fabric of nearby neighborhoods.

Dissertation, in brief

My dissertation advances accessibility modeling so that estimates of healthcare and telehealth access reflect the regulatory, infrastructural, and operational realities of how care is delivered, with telepsychology as one of several demonstration cases.

susceptible infected treated agent-based simulation

Publications

Peer-reviewed work

2026

Spatio-temporal sensitivity of healthcare accessibility: Insights from a system dynamics model

Patrick Danso and Liang Mao

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 129, 102491

doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2026.102491
2026

Tracing the effects of studentification in a mid-sized city: Lubbock, Texas Tech University, and the five surrounding neighborhoods

Patrick Danso and Perry Carter

Geographical Review (American Geographical Society)

doi.org/10.1080/00167428.2026.2669531

Data & code

2026
Spatio-Temporal Sensitivity of Healthcare Accessibility · dataset and code, openly licensed (CC BY 4.0) · figshare

Conference talks

2026
Drivers of change in healthcare access: spatiotemporal sensitivity analysis of a system dynamics model. Invited paper, symposium on GeoAI for Sustainable Cities and Health Research, AAG Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
2025
Tracing the effects of studentification in a mid-sized city. GIScience and Systems Specialty Group session, AAG Annual Meeting, Detroit.
2024
Tracing the effects of studentification in Lubbock, Texas. 79th Annual Meeting of SEDAAG, Greenville, South Carolina.

Experience

Research, teaching, and practice

2025 – present

Graduate Research Assistant

Department of Geography, University of Florida

  • Model healthcare accessibility across Florida with system dynamics simulation, global sensitivity analysis, and large-scale geospatial computation, contributing to an NIH-funded project led by Dr. Liang Mao (PI).
  • Build agent-based models that place people in simulated social networks and represent hospital selection through utility-based choice (multinomial logit) functions.
  • Develop spatial models of telehealth accessibility and the regulatory barriers to virtual care in the United States.
2023 – 2025

Graduate Teaching Assistant & Lab Instructor

Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University

  • Taught laboratory sections for Global Environmental Science and GIS; graded and mentored undergraduate students.
  • As a summer research assistant (2024 and 2025), analyzed large demographic, economic, and property datasets on studentification and real estate markets using R, Python, and machine learning methods.
2021 – 2023

Development Planning Assistant

Ellembelle District Assembly, Ghana

  • Supported district development planning and project execution with demographic and spatial data analysis, beginning with Ghana's National Service Scheme and continuing as a voluntary role.

Education

Training

2025 – present

PhD in Geography

University of Florida, Gainesville

Dissertation research on spatial accessibility modeling of telehealth and healthcare services. Advisor: Dr. Liang Mao.

2023 – 2025

MS in Geography and the Environment

Texas Tech University, Lubbock

GPA 4.0. Thesis published in Geographical Review (2026). Advisor: Dr. Perry Carter.

GIS & Technology Certificate

2017 – 2021

BA in Economics and Geography

University of Cape Coast, Ghana

GPA 3.8. Dean's List, Faculty of Social Sciences (2018, 2019).

Recognition

Honors & awards

2025Graduate School Opportunity Award · University of Florida Graduate School, competitive
2024Graduate Student Research Support Award · Texas Tech Graduate School, competitive
2024Graduate School Student Travel Award · Texas Tech University
2024Summer Student Field Award · Southwestern Division of the AAG, competitive
2024Gary Elbow Scholarship for Academic Excellence · Texas Tech University
2024Geosciences Excellence Scholarship · Texas Tech University
2018 – 19Dean's List, Faculty of Social Sciences · University of Cape Coast

Toolkit

How the maps get made

Programming & analysis

Python · geospatial stack SALib R · tidycensus SQL Git & GitHub Machine learning Agent-based modeling NetLogo Monte Carlo simulation Global sensitivity analysis

GIS & spatial

ArcGIS Pro QGIS OpenStreetMap network analysis Remote sensing Spatial statistics

Training

CONVERGE Hazards & Disaster Mental Health Research Training, 2024

Teaching & outreach

Open tutorials and side projects

Simple Spatial Analysis with R

A free, open tutorial series that walks beginners through spatial data cleaning, mapping, and analysis in R, written for students who are new to GIS programming.

simplecodes.netlify.app →

Contact

Let's talk about access

I am glad to hear from researchers, students, and practitioners interested in spatial accessibility, telehealth policy, health disparities, or potential collaborations.

GitHub Google Scholar ORCID CV (PDF)