Research Activities
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.