Mathematical Biology Seminar

Dr. Benjamin A. Steinberg, University of Utah
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
3:05 pm LCB 225
Outcomes Data in Atrial Fibrillation Research: The Beast of Burden

Abstract: ?The use of electronic health system data for quality improvement and research purposes has grown to a research field of its own, requiring expertise in clinical disease states, outcomes research, data sciences, bioinformatics, statistics, and even medical billing. Nevertheless, fruitful and powerful investigations and analyses can be performed, to answer appropriately-positioned research questions. This has been particularly true in clinical cardiology and clinical electrophysiology, specifically related to atrial fibrillation (the most common cardiac arrhythmia). In this forum, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities of leveraging large, administrative datasets to answer clinical research questions, including challenges around phenotype definitions, missing data, and informative biases that could be aided by advanced analytic and computational approaches.?

Biography: Gwynn Elfring is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute of Applied Mathematics at the University of British Columbia. His research involves modeling the fluid mechanics of soft matter systems, including cell locomotion and cellular biophysics, the mechanics of (active) suspensions, interfacial and membrane rheology, and non-Newtonian flow physics. In particular, he studies the dynamics of passive and active bodies - from bacteria to Janus particles - in complex and biological fluids. Previously, he completed a Ph.D. at the University of California San Diego under the supervision of Eric Lauga and postdoctoral studies with L. Gary Leal and Todd M. Squires at the University of California Santa Barbara before joining the faculty at UBC in 2013.