Alberta Innovates- Health Solutions

Developing new and efficient ways to analyze and interpret healthcare data is a primary focus of Dr. Keumhee C. Carrière's research as a statistician. The Heritage Health Senior Scholar works with researchers developing mathematical methods of collecting and interpreting administrative data used by decision-makers who direct healthcare spending and services.

Dr. Carrière must also find ways to ensure her data are accurate. Ecological fallacy is a phenomenon resulting when patient information is collected from hierarchical sources such as health regions, municipalities, and hospitals. To protect patient privacy, hospital administrators often filter information, unintentionally weeding out data critical to statisticians. Dr. Carrière acknowledges the importance of protecting patient privacy, but says current methods of data collection can also colour results. The Heritage researcher is developing a way to preserve patient confidentiality while still giving researchers the information they need to generate accurate results.

Originally from Korea, Dr. Carrière worked as a statistician in Manitoba and in the U.S. before joining the University of Alberta's Department of Mathematical Sciences in 1996. In three short years, among other successful projects, she's helped initiate a joint M.Sc. program in biostatistics with the U of A's Public Health Sciences. Dr. Carrière is also a consultant for the Western Canadian Wait List project headed by Dr. Tom Noseworthy. The high-profile project will set clinical guidelines for prioritizing waiting lists.

Dr. Keumhee Carrière is a Heritage Health Senior Scholar, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences in the Faculty of Science at the U of A. In addition to Heritage support, Dr. Carrière receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC). She is also a National Health Scholar through Health Canada's National Health Research Development Program.
Dr. Carri?re supervises

• Alex De Leon
• Rong Huang
• Dr. Jib Huh

First statistics and health conference

Heritage researcher Dr. K. C. Carriére is organizing the first Statistics and Health Conference to be held in Edmonton, June 11-13, 2000. The AHFMR-funded conference will create a forum where statisticians, health researchers, and other scientific analysts can interact to evaluate statistical issues and their solutions in health research. Heritage-supported researchers Dr. Patrick Hessel and Dr. Philip Jacobs sit on the conference's advisory board. For more information contact BRG@stat.ualberta.ca or Dr. Carriére at (780) 492-4230.