Population Health Data Science Research Seminar Series

Staff and students from Queen Mary and Barts Health NHS Trust are invited to join us, to: 

• See and share examples of research excellence in health data science from across the Wolfson Institute of Population Health (WIPH) and Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), Queen Mary, Barts Health, and more widely
• Develop deeper knowledge of the many health data sources available for research and hear directly from colleagues who are using them
• Meet new collaborators and share expertise in using electronic health records and multimodal data to improve population health

Upcoming

Thursday 20 June, 10.00-10.50

Designing observational studies to emulate a randomised controlled trial 

Presentation by Dr Kevin Wing from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with Dr Paris Baptiste. This seminar will provide an overview of the “target trial” framework, which adds an additional layer of rigour and transparency to observational studies. We will discuss how emulating an existing randomised controlled trial in observational data can improve confidence in the results and generate evidence for patient groups that are typically underrepresented in trials. We’ll also consider the challenges that remain, including residual or unknown confounders - how can research teams know that their observational study reports a “true” effect?

Thursday 11 July, 10.00-10.50

Evaluating an intervention in real-time: A mixed-methods approach using interrupted time series, ‘Think Aloud’ exercises, and semi-structured interviews

Milena Marszalek presents a mixed-methods evaluation of an intervention aiming to improve timeliness and equity of preschool immunisations given through primary care. Preschool immunisation rates in London are among the worst in England, and with measles outbreaks now underway in the UK, efforts are urgently needed to help primary care teams improve levels of protection. In 2022 the Clinical Effectiveness Group (CEG) at Queen Mary implemented a Quality Improvement programme, centred on a ‘call/recall’ software tool that aims to make it simpler for GP practices across North East London to call children for the right vaccine at the right time. Milena’s evaluation includes an interrupted time series comparing the pre- and post-implementation periods. She also used 'Think Aloud' exercises and semi-structured interviews to assess the usability and feasibility of the tool. In the seminar, Milena will focus on the quantitative results, the value of mixed methods, evaluating an intervention in real-time, and the impacts of the results on clinical practice.

Past seminars

With the consent of the speakers, recordings of our seminars are available to watch here after the event.

Organising committee

Co-chairs: Rohini Mathur, Jianhua Wu (WIPH) and Claude Chelala (BCI) 
Committee members: Paris Baptiste, Fabiola Eto, Harriet Larvin, Jing Hui Law, Judith Offman, Stuart Rison, Mary Thomas, Nicola Firman (WIPH)