Onchee Yu, MS, is a biostatistician who has extensive experience in statistical applications to electronic health records (EHR) data, which she has contributed to studies related to women’s health, pharmacoepidemiology, and vaccine safety and effectiveness. Ms. Yu has been a key member of the immunization research program at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) over 20 years. Her work focuses on applying statistical methods to evaluate vaccine effectiveness, side effects, and safety. In collaboration with KPWHRI biostatisticians Jennifer Nelson, PhD, and Andrea Cook, PhD, Ms. Yu developed and improved statistical methods for monitoring the safety of postmarketing vaccines in the Vaccine Safety Datalink project.

Much of Ms. Yu's recent research is in pharmacoepidemiology, which is studying how drugs are used in a population and their impact on public health. She is an expert in statistical analysis in a complex, clinically important area — determining if medicine for one condition (for example, cardiovascular medications) affects risk of other illnesses (for example, dementia).

Addiction is another scientific area that Ms. Yu is involved in. In particular, she is a biostatistician on the PROUD (PRimary care Opioid Use Disorders) trial, a pragmatic implementation trial conducted in 6 diverse health systems to evaluate a program for increasing medication treatment for opioid use disorders within primary care settings.

Ms. Yu is also heavily involved in aging and geriatric research including collaborations with scientists on the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study, a long-standing and ongoing longitudinal cohort study exploring risk factors related to dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and healthy aging. 

Ms. Yu obtained her master’s degree in biostatistics from the University of Washington in 1999. She also has prior experience and contribution to research in cancer and women’s health.