Kevin Brand

Associate Professor

B.A.Sc. (University of Toronto), M.S. (Carnegie-Mellon), S.M. (Harvard), Sc.D. (Harvard)

Location: DMS 6124
Telephone: 613-562-5800 x 1852

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Biography

Dr. Brand's research informs the risk analysis/management interface applied to the health sector. His methods-research aims to simplify and illuminate projections/forecasts of health impacts (using simple mathematical models), and to clarify the translation of uncertain evidence into warrants for health policy action (using simple decision analysis and risk perception insight). He was the MHA program director from July of 2015 to January 2017.

His applications of these methods have extended beyond uncertainty analysis to include (Bayesian) numerical methods for pooling information, and value of information analysis. In more recent research he has applied standard mathematical approximation techniques to a standard demography tool, namely the life-table. He has used the resulting approximations to effectively "break-open" the black-box calculations that characterize the Cause-Modified life-table. His follow-up work suggests that these heuristics and inter-relationships will help bring greater coherence, and in some cases greater rigor, to the disparate approaches that have been used (by various disciplines) to forecast long term population health impacts.

Research areas

Decision analysis Demography methods Environmental Health Risk Assessment Health Impact Assessment Health economic valuation Multivariate data analysis Policy Formulation Regulatory toxicology Risk Management Uncertainty Analysis

Teaching interests

Health Management

Pillars

Greener Healthier

Publications during the last 7 years

Papers in Refereed Journals

Scarffe, A., Coates, A., Brand, K.P., Michalowski, W. Decision Threshold Models in Medical Decision Making: A Scoping Literature Review. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 24(1): 273.
Baillargeon, B.H., Charette, M., Tessier, F., Brand, K.P. Clinical practice guidelines about screening for disruptive behavior problems at well-child visits: A rapid review of the literature on the accuracy of parents’ behavioral concerns. OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine.
Scarffe, A., Licskai, C.J., Ferrone, M., Brand, K.P., Thavorn, K., Coyle, D. Cost-Effectiveness of Integrated Disease Management for High Risk, Exacerbation Prone, Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in a Primary Care Setting. Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, 20(1): 39.
Welch, V., Dewidar, O., Tanjong Ghogomu, E., Abdisalam, S., Al Ameer, A., Barbeau, V.I., Brand, K.P., Kebedom, K., Benkhalti, M., Kristjansson, E., Madani, M.T., Antequera Martín, A.M., Mathew, C.M., McGowan, J., McLeod, W., Park, H.A., Petkovic, J., Riddle, A., Tugwell, P., Petticrew, M., Trawin, J., Wells, G. How effects on health equity are assessed in systematic reviews of interventions. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Brand, K.P., Finkel, A. M. A Decision-Analytic Approach to Addressing the Evidence About Football And CTE. Seminars in Neurology, 40(4): 450-460.
Ouedraogo, A., Crighton, E., Sawada, M., To, T., Brand, K.P., Lavigne, E. Exploration of the spatial patterns and determinants of asthma prevalence and health services use in Ontario using a Bayesian approach . PLOS ONE, 13(12): e0208205.

Funded Research during the last 7 years

Funded Research during the last 7 years
From-To	Source	Title	Purpose	Type	Role	Amount
2025-2025	University of Ottawa, Faculty of Arts	Empowering Educators: Data Education in the Age of AI	P	I	Co-A	$2,500
2020-2023	MITACS	Establishing a Standard of Proof for Public Health Threats: Exploration of the Use of Precaution and Weight of Evidence	R	O	PI	$130,000

LEGEND:

Role
PI = Principal Investigator | Co-I = Co-Investigator | Co-PI = Co-Principal Investigator