Elham Rahme, PhD

My research program focuses on the evaluation of the safety, effectiveness and economic implications of prescribed medications using large administrative databases and on the development of new biostatistical methods for the design and analyses of such studies. The Quebec health administrative databases are a resource for several of my projects in the pharmacoepidemiology domain. We are assessing the effectiveness and safety of the biologic medications (anti-TNF) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis; the risk of mental health disorders and suicide in patients with autoimmune diseases; and the use and safety, in terms of risk of major bleeding, of new oral anticoagulants in the prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation as well as in the secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism. In terms of methodology development, my current research includes the validation of methods used to correct for outcome misclassification including multiple imputation and Bayesian methods.