Research summary
Canada’s health care system generates vast amounts of electronic data, but inconsistencies in how these data are collected and linked can limit their usefulness in research and policy-making. As Canada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality, Dr. Lisa Lix aims to improve the quality, comparability and accuracy of electronic health data in Canada.
Lix has already developed machine learning models to extract insights from multi-site health data and improved the portability of health measures across health care systems and time periods. Now, she and her research team are advancing methods to standardize chronic disease definitions, use simulated (synthetic) data for validation, and address errors in database linkages. Their work is improving how we measure chronic disease, predict risks and conduct population health surveillance. Ultimately, it will help ensure that policy-makers and researchers have access to high-quality data to make informed health care decisions for Canadians.