Research in Progress: Anna Heath - Designing Clinical Research to Support Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods for Value of Information

Title: Designing Clinical Research to Support Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods for Value of Information

Dr. Anna Heath

PhD, Statistical Science, University College London 
MMath, Mathematics with French Language, University of Sheffield

Anna Heath research interests include how health economic and decision theoretic ideas can be applied to how clinical trials are conceived, desinged, and analyzed. This analysis includes utilizing the concept of the "Value of Information", which is used to quantify the economic value of information obtained through research. This additional research would support decision making about the optimal treatment for a specific patient population in a manner that is both efficient and cost-effective.  Dr. Heath is a Biostatistician for The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as well as an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London.

Research In Progress

The Expected Value of Sample Information (EVSI) assesses the economic benefit of undertaking research with a specific design and sample size. By prioritising studies with high net value, EVSI can be used for research design. Unfortunately, this analysis has been hindered by a notoriously high computational burden. To tackle this issue, several efficient EVSI approximation methods have been developed but, as these approximation methods were developed concurrently, they have not been compared and therefore their relative advantages and disadvantages are not clear.

This seminar will present the key concepts required to calculate EVSI and four recently developed approximation methods. We will then discuss the results of a comparative effectiveness study for these methods.

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