Laura Rosella

Laura Rosella, PhD, MHSc, is the Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of the Population Health Analytics Lab.

She is an Associate Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, where she holds Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics.

In 2020, she was made the Inaugural Stephen Family Research Chair in Community Health at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners.

Her additional scientific appointments include the Vector Institute and Site Director for ICES U of T.

Her research interests include:

• population health
• predictive models to support public health planning
• population health management.

She has authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of epidemiology, population health and health services research.

She has been awarded several national grants, including a CIHR Foundation grant to support her population health analytics research program.

Notably, Dr Rosella was recently awarded the Brian MacMahon Early Career Epidemiology Award by the Society for Epidemiologic Research and was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

She was president of the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CSEB) from 2018-2020.

Research Synopsis

My research area is rooted in public health, focused on using data to guide decision-making related to preventive policies and interventions that will improve to population health, enhance equity, and enhance health system performance.

I am interested in advancing analytic methods using an integrated population health perspective that considers the health system and broad determinants that influence health.

This builds on the first term of my Canada Research Chair Term by bringing together new data sources, focusing on broader health system outcomes like multimorbidity (versus specific diseases) and testing newly developed analytic approaches, including machine learning approaches.

The silos in our health systems are mirrored by separations of academic disciplines and funding structures. I aim to bridge medicine, population health, health services/system research and advanced analytic methods given my training, collaborations, and expertise in all domains.

I am pursuing ways to integrate health and non-health data to improve insights from analytic outputs and address issues of bias and equity in machine learning-based algorithms in populations.

The Population Helath Analytics Lab

Population Health Analytics Laboratory is unique in Canada.

We draw from demographic, clinical, behavioural, social, and health outcomes information and advanced analytics to gain new insights into:

• chronic disease prevention
• population health
• health system performance
• reduced inequities, and
• health system sustainability.

The lab is a hub for a multidisciplinary research team that includes epidemiology, biostatistics, knowledge translation, evaluation, computer science, mathematics and engineering.

Integrated in the lab is a dedicated effort to work directly with key health system decision-makers, maximizing the meaningfulness and the real-world impact of the research.

Appointments

Principal Investigator and Scientific Director, Population Health Analytics Lab

Honours and Awards

Inaugural Stephen Family Research Chair in Community Health at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners

Brian MacMahon Early Career Epidemiology Award, Society for Epidemiologic Research

Canada’s Top 40 Under 40