The CANSTAT-CTTP & Michael Smith Health Research BC Postdoctoral Fellowship 2024 Award Program supports my year-long fellowship with the CANSTAT program (https://can-stat.ca/). The CANSTAT program is a pan-Canadian platform training statistics graduates specifically for randomized clinical trials. It is primarily funded through the Canadian Institutes of Canadian Research.
I entered the CANSTAT fellowship program after completing my MSc in Statistics at the University of British Columbia in 2024. My thesis was titled “The impact of disease-modifying drugs for multiple sclerosis on hospitalizations and mortality in British Columbia: a retrospective study using an illness-death multi-state model”. I previously graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with two degrees, a BSc in Data Science and a Bachelor of Business Administration.
I remain at UBC mentored by Drs. Joel Singer, professor emeritus at the School of Population and Public Health, and Jim Russell, professor at the Division of Critical Care, Department of Medicine. As a CANSTAT statistical fellow, this award supports my work on many BC-based projects. So far, this includes drafting statistical analysis plans and power analyses, such as for a trial on studying diet and diabetes, conducting analyses and creating reports, such as for a breast cancer trial, and an ongoing project using predictive modelling as an enrichment strategy for COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia trials.
My CANSTAT work impacts the BC health system in two ways. My work during this year generates an immediate impact by working with many teams of researchers on high-quality RCTs. But this fellowship has also trained me for a career in RCTs that will allow me to make an enduring impact throughout my career.