Eric A. Johnson, MS
“We’re on the forefront of research in many areas. It’s our responsibility to make sure the research is done well and is useful to those who practice medicine.”
Eric A. Johnson, MS
Senior Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Eric.Johnson@kp.org
206-287-2015
Biography
Eric Johnson, MS, completed the University of Washington’s biostatistics master’s program in 2008. His thesis explored common theoretical problems involved with missing data. He quantified them, highlighting conditions leading to suboptimal performance, and provided new guidelines for using various multiple imputation techniques.
During his time at KPWHRI, Mr. Johnson has been involved with multiple projects involving direct intervention with the care-delivery system, observational studies and microsimulation modeling on colorectal and ovarian cancer, massage therapy, and estimating radiation exposure from medical imaging. His current responsibilities lie in research on obesity, opioids, and mental health.
Before earning his master’s degree, Mr. Johnson worked for four years as a research assistant on the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), performing statistical analyses, verifying incoming data, and developing a process for providing data sets to all MESA researchers. Later, he was a research statistician with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), serving as the primary analyst in an investigation of how well VA hospitals performed non-cardiac surgeries. Mr. Johnson assessed statistical models used by the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program—then devised, tested, and implemented improved models, reporting his findings to VA leadership.
Research interests and experience
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Biostatistics
Multiple imputation; prediction models, working with large data
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Health Systems
Implementing prediction models, and validating that they work as intended. Research into interventions that are financially feasible for health systems to widely implement
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Cancer
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Complementary & Integrative Health
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Health Services & Economics
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Obesity
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Mental Health
Recent publications
Smith-Bindman R, Poder L, Johnson E, Miglioretti DL. Risk of malignant ovarian cancer based on ultrasonography findings in a large unselected population. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 Nov 12. pii: 2714301. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.5113. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Hsu C, Hertel E, Johnson E, Cahill C, Lozano P, Ross TR, Ehrlich K, Coleman K, BlueSpruce J, Cheadle A, Matthys J, Chapdelaine M, Gray M, Tufte J, Robbins M. Evaluation of the Learning to Integrate Neighborhoods and Clinical Care project: findings from implementing a new lay role into primary care teams to address social determinants of health. Perm J. 2018; 22:18-101.Published online 2018 Oct 22.doi: 10.7812/TPP/18-101.
Fisher DP, Johnson E, Haneuse S, Arterburn D, Coleman KJ, O'Connor PJ, O'Brien R, Bogart A, Theis MK, Anau J, Schroeder EB, Sidney S. Association between bariatric surgery and macrovascular disease outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and severe obesity. JAMA. 2018;320(15):1570-1582. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.14619. PubMed
O'Brien R, Johnson E, Haneuse S, Coleman KJ, O'Connor PJ, Fisher DP, Sidney S, Bogart A, Theis MK, Anau J, Schroeder EB, Arterburn D. Microvascular outcomes in patients with diabetes after bariatric surgery versus usual care: a matched cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2018 Sep 4;169(5):300-310. doi: 10.7326/M17-2383. Epub 2018 Aug 7. PubMed
Simon GE, Johnson E, Lawrence JM, Rossom RC, Ahmedani B, Lynch FL, Beck A, Waitzfelder B, Ziebell R, Penfold RB, Shortreed SM. Predicting suicide attempts and suicide deaths following outpatient visits using electronic health records. Am J Psychiatry. 2018 May 24:appiajp201817101167. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17101167. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Coleman KJ, Johnson E, Ahmedani BK, Beck A, Rossom RC, Shortreed SM, Simon GE. Predicting suicide attempts for racial and ethnic groups of patients during routine clinical care. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2019 Jun;49(3):724-734. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12454. Epub 2018 Mar 24. PubMed
Simon GE, Johnson E, Stewart C, Rossom RC, Beck A, Coleman KJ, Waitzfelder B, Penfold R, Operskalski BH, Shortreed SM. Does patient adherence to antidepressant medication actually vary between physicians? J Clin Psychiatry. 2018 May/Jun;79(3). pii: 16m11324. doi: 10.4088/JCP.16m11324. PubMed
Simon GE, Shortreed SM, Johnson E, Beck A, Coleman KJ, Rossom RC, Whiteside US, Operskalski BH, Penfold RB. Between-visit changes in suicidal ideation and risk of subsequent suicide attempt. Depress Anxiety. 2017 Sep;34(9):794-800. doi: 10.1002/da.22623. Epub 2017 Apr 25. PubMed
Penfold RB, Stewart C, Simon GE, Shortreed SM, Johnson E, Rossom RC, Operskalski B, Beck A. Antidepressant use by youth with minimal or mild depression: evidence from 3 health systems. Pediatr Qual Saf. 2017;2(2). pii: e017. Epub 2017 Mar 22. PubMed
Rossom RC, Coleman KJ, Ahmedani BK, Beck A, Johnson E, Oliver M, Simon GE. Suicidal ideation reported on the PHQ9 and risk of suicidal behavior across age groups. J Affect Disord. 2017 Mar 16;215:77-84. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.03.037. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
New findings
Simpler models to identify suicide risk perform similarly to more complex ones
Models that are easier to explain, use could have better uptake in health care settings.
New findings
Research roundup on natural language processing and machine learning
Using doctor's notes to learn about drug reactions, dementia, and cannabis use.
New findings
Is bariatric surgery helpful in chronic kidney disease?
David Arterburn and colleagues find that bariatric surgery is linked to lower death risk in persons with obesity and CKD.
research
Weight loss lasts long after bariatric surgery
Diverse Kaiser Permanente patients maintained weight better after gastric bypass than after sleeve gastrectomy
caregiving
Training for caregivers of people with dementia: How to scale up
Dr. Rob Penfold leads pragmatic trial of new online version of proven program developed by UW colleagues.
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