Researchers
Timothy Ramsay

Timothy Ramsay

PhD

Senior Scientist, Methodological and Implementation Research

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Scientific Director, Ottawa Methods Centre

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Associate Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health

University of Ottawa

Associate Director, Training and Education of Clinical Epidemiology Program

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Contact

tramsay@ohri.ca

Administrative Coordinator: Dana Burke 613-737-8899 x73833 dburke@ohri.ca

ORCID 0000-0001-8478-8170

Bio

Dr. Tim Ramsay has a PhD in biostatistics and is a Senior Scientist with the Clinical Epidemiology Program of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, as well as an Associate Professor with the University of Ottawa’s School of Epidemiology and Public Health. He is Scientific Director of the Ottawa Methods Centre, a group of statisticians, information technology specialists, epidemiologists, and health-care economists that supports clinical research at The Ottawa Hospital and across Ontario through the CIHR-funded Strategy for Patient Oriented Research. Dr. Ramsay has been an author on 229 peer-reviewed publications and has been a co-investigator on 69 peer-reviewed grants totaling over $66 million.

Research Goals and Interests

  • Biostatistics
  • Epidemiology
  • Mathematics
  • Numerical analysis
  • Risk assessement

In February of 2006, I moved from the Institute of Population Health (IPH) in the University of Ottawa to take a position as Associate Scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and was promoted to Senior Scientist in 2015. At the OHRI, I provide significant methodological and statistical support to academic researchers and clinical investigators, in addition to pursuing my own research program focused on exploring bias in analytic methods for clinical trials. I have authored over 229 publications and have secured over $66 million in research funding as a PI and co-investigator. In January of 2008, I took on the position of Associate Director of Training and Education in Clinical Epidemiology Program for OHRI and in June of 2009, I was appointed Scientific Director of the Ottawa Methods Centre.

As a Principal Scientist with the IPH, my research program focused on population health risk assessment. I have made major contributions to the understanding of bias in semiparametric models used to assess the short-term risk associated with exposure to elevated levels of ambient air pollution. In addition to publishing research papers on this subject, I have also acted as the Canadian analyst in a large, international air pollution research project (APHENA—Air Pollution and Health in Europe and North America) funded by the Health Effects Institute. I have also published work on the effect of censoring on cancer risk estimates in occupational radiation exposure studies and comparing different methods of outlier detection in bioequivalence studies. I published a letter in Science on the difficulties of defining the term genetically modified’ in relation to risk perception with genetically modified food.

As an Associate Professor in the University of Ottawa’s School of Epidemiology and Public Health, I have taught and continue to teach graduate-level courses in Epidemiology. I have also supervised and co-supervised graduate students at both the Master’s and Doctoral levels, and continue to do so. I teach an annual Master’s-level course in Biostatistics.

Currently, as a Senior Scientist with the OHRI, my research focuses on analytic methods for clinical trials. Primarily collaborative in nature, this work has lead to numerous publications on which I have been the chief statistician. As the Scientific Director of the Ottawa Methods Centre, I am responsible for providing methodological support at the design, data collection, and analysis phases for all scientists within the OHRI with a particular focus on clinical epidemiology studies.

News

Publications

PREDIGT Trial: Piloting an Unsupervised, Home-Based Toolkit to Screen for Parkinson Disease

2026-05-01 Go to publication

Incident Hypertension in Young Adults With a Mild Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate Reduction

2026-04-29 Go to publication

Do Functional Patient-reported Outcome Measures Reflect the Activities That Matter Most to Patients After Hip or Knee Arthroplasty?

2026-04-01 Go to publication

Supporting data for: Assessing knowledge, attitudes, willingness, and barriers to pneumococcal vaccination among Canadian older adults: a cross-sectional survey

2026-01-01

Which functional activities matter most to the patients during the first six months after hip or knee arthroplasty: a survey study

2025-10-02 Go to publication
View More on ORCiD

Current Funding

Lifetime total funding - $65,476,332
 


06/2020-05/2022 TiC Evaluations Rural Network Study: multisite evaluation of transition in care activities across an alliance of three rural hospitals in Ontario
Principal Investigator: Brian Devin
Funder: PSI Foundation
Total awarded: $196,000

04/2020-03/2025 Impact of regional microinfarct load on cortical reorganization and stroke recovery
Principal Investigator: Gergely Silasi
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Total awarded: $827,155

04/2020-03/2024 Using behavioural science to understand and improve participation in clinical trials: A theory-based research project.
Principal Investigator: Jamie Brehaut; Principal Knowledge User: Susan Marlin
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Total awarded: $963,900

10/2019-09/2024 Screening for Occult Malignancy in Patients with Unprovoked Venous Thromboembolism: a Randomized Controlled Trial using 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Computed Tomography. SOME-2 Trial
Principal Investigator: Aurelien Delluc & Marc Carrier
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total awarded: $895,050 (grant #419392)

04/2019-03/2023 The Digital Bridge: Using technology to support patient-centred transitions from hospital to home
Principal Investigators: Carolyn Steele Gray, Chad Leaver, Michelle Nelson, Terence Tang
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total awarded: $950,816

10/2018-03/2021 A Simple Exercise Program for Patients with End Stage Kidney Disease to Improve Strength and Quality of Life: a Feasibility Study
Principal Investigator: Deborah Zimmerman & Rita Suri
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total awarded: $252,450

10/2018-09/2023 Rapid correction of vitamin D deficiency in pediatric critical illness: A phase III multicentre randomized controlled trial
Principal Investigator: Dayre McNally
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total awarded: $983,026

10/2018-09/2023 Stress Hydrocortisone in Pediatric Septic Shock (The SHIPSS trial)
Principal Investigator: Kusum Menon
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total awarded: $1,101,600

04/2018-03/2021 A Healthy People Initiative: A Randomized Controlled Trial Building the Socio-Economic Capital of Low Income Population At-Risk for HIV and Hepatitis C (HPI Pilot Trial)
Principal Investigator: Smita Pakhale & Elspeth McKay
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total awarded: $450,000

04/2018-03/2023 Canadian-Australasian Randomized Trial of Screening Kidney Transplant Candidates for Coronary Artery Disease (CARSK)
Principal Investigators: Benjamin Chow, Jagbir Gill, Joseph Kim, Scott Klarenbach
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total awarded: $2,237,625

04/2018-03/2022 PRICE 2: A phase 3 randomized controlled trial of phlebotomy resulting in controlled hypovolemia to prevent blood loss in major hepatic resections
Principal Investigator: Guillaume Martel
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Total funding: $497,252

08/2016-07/2023 An epidemiologic research program to improve maternal and child health
Principal Investigators: Shi Wu Wen and Mark Walker
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Program: Foundation Scheme
Total awarded: $9,876,973

07/2015-06/2022 A Research Program to Improve Patient Outcomes in Kidney Transplantation
Program Leader: Gregory Knoll
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Program: Foundation Scheme
Total awarded: $3,871,800

07/2015 – 06/2022 Improving long term outcomes after venous thromboembolism (VTE)
Principal Investigator: Susan Kahn
Funder: Canadian Institute of Health Research
Program: Foundation Scheme
Total awarded: $2,050,825

09/2014-08/2025 The Thoracic Peri-Operative Integrative Surgical Care Evaluation (POISE) Trial
Principal investigators: Dugald Seely and Andrew Seely
Funder: Hecht Foundation
Total awarded: $3,853,888

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