Professional Interests
Population health, health services research, population-based risk tools to support health decision-making, diabetes and obesity prevention, impact of prevention on health care sustainability, population health interventions
Impact
1) Population Risk Tools: I specialize in the development of population risk tools that can be used by decision-makers to inform prevention strategies and resource allocation for chronic diseases. I developed and validated the first population risk tool for diabetes, Diabetes Population Risk Tool (DPoRT). Most recently, I have developed a new methodology to identify optimal cut-offs for diabetes screening that, if targeted, maximize prevention outcomes in the population.
2) High-users of health care: Using linked health administrative data for participants from several cycles of a comprehensive health survey we have investigated a multitude of individual-level variables, including socio-economics, demographics, health behaviors and medical history that influence high cost trajectories. The goal is to identify risk factors associated with becoming a HU which may be targeted or modified before health declines begin. This research also stresses the importance of collaboration across public health, social and health care systems.
3) Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and obesity prevention is a focus of much of my research. I have led several studies looking at patterns of diabetes (including undiagnosed and prediabetes) and obesity trajectories in the population.
4) I have led scholarly research on how best to inform the evidence-to-action process and support health decision-making. I recently published CIHR-funded research on the use of evidence for public health policy decision-making. Furthermore, I currently hold a CIHR operating grant focused on partnerships with local and provincial public health decision-makers across Canada to facilitate the uptake of population risk tools as a strategic decision-aid. This project directly studies the effectiveness of the knowledge-to-action process in multiple Canadian health settings.
5) I have been the methodological lead for a number of population health and publish on overarching methodological issues in epidemiologic studies, such as measurement error, unmeasured confounding, selection bias and the impact of in accuracies in administrative data.
Other Affiliations
- Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
- Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)
- Scientist, Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners
CREATE (CentRe for digital hEalth and dATa sciEnce) has developed an AI model that can help reduce the number of unnecessary angiograms and now working to develop a clinical decision support tool for use at the point of care.