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

Curriculum vitae (CV)

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

Biostatistics

Multiple imputation; prediction models, working with large data
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
Cancer
Complementary & Integrative Health
Health Services & Economics
Obesity
Mental Health

Recent publications

Penfold RB, Whiteside U, Johnson EE, Stewart CC, Oliver MM, Shortreed SM, Beck A, Coleman KJ, Rossom RC, Lawrence JM, Simon GE. Utility of item 9 of the patient health questionnaire in the prospective identification of adolescents at risk of suicide attempt. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2021 Jul 31. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12751. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Penfold RB, Johnson E, Shortreed SM, Ziebell RA, Lynch FL, Clarke GN, Coleman KJ, Waitzfelder BE, Beck AL, Rossom RC, Ahmedani BK, Simon GE. Predicting suicide attempts and suicide deaths among adolescents following outpatient visits. J Affect Disord. 2021 Jul 1;294:39-47. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.06.057. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Coley RY, Johnson E, Simon GE, Cruz M, Shortreed SM. Racial/ethnic disparities in the performance of prediction models for death by suicide after mental health visits. JAMA Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 28:e210493. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0493. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Coleman KJ, Shu YH, Fischer H, Johnson E, Yoon TK, Taylor B, Imam T, DeRose S, Haneuse S, Herrinton LJ, Fisher D, Li RA, Theis MK, Liu L, Courcoulas AP, Smith DH, Arterburn DE, Friedman AN. Bariatric surgery and risk of death in persons with chronic kidney disease. Ann Surg. 2021 Mar 3. doi: 10.1097/SLA.000000000000485. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Tsui JI, Akosile MA, Lapham GT, Boudreau DM, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJH, Glass JE, Rossom RC, Murphy MT, Cunningham CO, Arnsten JH, Thakral M, Saxon AJ, Merrill JO, Samet JH, Bart GB, Campbell CI, Loree AM, Silva A, Stotts AL, Ahmedani B, Braciszewski JM, Hechter RC, Northrup TF, Horigian VE, Bradley KA. Prevalence and medication treatment of opioid use disorder among primary care patients with hepatitis C and HIV. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Feb 10. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-06389-7. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Koffman L, Levis AW, Arterburn D, Coleman KJ, Herrinton LJ, Cooper J, Ewing J, Fischer H, Fraser JR, Johnson E, Taylor B, Theis MK, Liu L, Courcoulas A, Li R, Fisher DP, Amsden L, Haneuse S. Investigating bias from missing data in an electronic health records-based study of weight loss after bariatric surgery. Obes Surg. 2021 Jan 19. doi: 10.1007/s11695-021-05226-y. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Matson TE, Lapham GT, Bobb JF, Johnson E, Richards JE, Lee AK, Bradley KA, Glass JE. Cannabis use, other drug use, and risk of subsequent acute care in primary care patients. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020 Aug 8;216:108227. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108227. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Arterburn DE, Johnson E, Coleman KJ, Herrinton LJ, Courcoulas AP, Fisher D, Li RA, Theis MK, Liu L, Fraser JR, Haneuse S. Weight outcomes of sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass compared to nonsurgical treatment. Ann Surg. 2020 Mar 13. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000003826. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Boudreau DM, Lapham G, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Liu D, Samet JH, Campbell CI, Rossom RC, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJH, Arnsten JH, Cunningham CO, Glass JE, Murphy MT, Zare M, Hechter R, Ahmedani B, Braciszewski JM, Horigian VE, Szapocznik J, Samet JH, Saxon AJ, Schwartz RP, Bradley KA. Documented opioid use disorder and its treatment in primary care patients across six US health systems. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2020 Mar;112S:41-48. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2020.02.001. PubMed

Lapham G, Boudreau DM, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Liu D, Samet JH, Saxon AJ, Campbell CI, Glass JE, Rossom RC, Murphy MT, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJH, Bradley KA. Prevalence and treatment of opioid use disorders among primary care patients in six health systems. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020;207:107732. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107732. Epub 2019 Nov 15. PubMed