GEMINI Executive Team
Co-Lead
Co-Lead
Team Members
Communications Specialist
Data Quality Analyst
Senior Data Scientist
Nicole Yada
Director, Strategy Partnerships and Operations VITAL
Data Quality Analyst
Research Data Scientist
Co-Lead
Co-Lead
Communications Specialist
Data Quality Analyst
Senior Data Scientist
Director, Strategy Partnerships and Operations VITAL
Data Quality Analyst
Research Data Scientist
Co-Lead
I am an internal medicine physician and scientist at Unity Health Toronto and the Temerty Professor of AI Research and Education in Medicine at the University of Toronto.
I completed a BSc in Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie, medical school and residency at the University of Toronto, a Masters in Economic and Social History at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, a 1-year interdisciplinary fellowship with the Canadian Frailty Network a 2-year research fellowship studying big data and advanced analytics in the Clinician Investigator Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and a 1-year fellowship in Artificial Intelligence and Compassion with AMS Healthcare.
I serve as a Provincial Clinical Lead for Quality Improvement in General Internal Medicine with Ontario Health, the Vice-Chair of the Researcher Council of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, and was a member of the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Health Data Sharing. I received the 2023 Canadian Society of Internal Medicine New Investigator Award, the 2022 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Early Career Leadership Award and the 2022 Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s early career Trailblazer Award in Population and Public Health Research.
I am near the ocean.
Co-Lead
I am a hospital-based general internist at St Michaels Hospital and Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. I am co-lead of the GEMINI program. I am also the Provincial Co-Lead, Quality Improvement in General Internal Medicine at Ontario Health, and I find this a great fit for my clinical work and research focus.
At the University of Toronto, I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. I am a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.
My training includes a degree in Engineering Science (Biomedical Engineering), Medical Doctorate, Residency and Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto. I was the first physician appointed as a David E. Bell Fellow at Harvard University and my post-doctoral training focused on social determinants of health and population health through use of large datasets.
Notable research recognitions at the University of Toronto include the Dean’s Emerging Leader Award, the President’s Impact Award, and being named a Senior Fellow at Massey College. I received the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine’s New Investigator Award and the Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship from the PSI Foundation. I have received >$65 million in grant funding as Principal Investigator from sources such as CIHR, NSERC, and the Canadian Cancer Society. I have published >100 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 35, >50 as first/senior author), including in high impact journals such as JAMA, the BMJ, PLOS Medicine and PNAS as first/senior author.
I am a Canada Research Chair in Data-Informed Health Care Improvement and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. I serve as a Provincial Clinical Lead for Quality Improvement in General Internal Medicine with Ontario Health, and am Vice-President Research at the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine. I am on the advisory board of the BMJ.
I was the Scientific Director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and co-authored >50 science and policy briefs that shaped the policy, public health and clinical response to the COVID-19 crisis. I am a member of the Federal Expert Panel on Science Advisory and Research convened by the Minister of Health.
I can see something grow that I have nurtured and cared for. For GEMINI, I feel inspired as I see our team grow stronger and more skilled in striving to achieve the complex and broad goals we have set for ourselves.
Communications Specialist
I received my Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science at the University of Toronto, and Master of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Before working in communications, I was a journalist for 10 years covering science, technology, business and national news in print, digital, radio and TV. I’m particularly fond of longform storytelling, whether it’s a radio documentary or a feature magazine story. I’ve worked as a producer at CBC’s Quirks & Quarks, putting together stories of shocking discoveries and amazing advances in science. Outside of work, I’ve created and hosted two educational podcasts, “Wiser Living” and “Culture Atlas,” on Spotify.
Meeting people with different life experiences and learning from them.
Travelling, music, nature, art, skating
Data Quality Analyst
I completed my Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto, majoring in Statistics and minoring in Mathematics.
During my undergrad, I was part of a team who created an interactive R package for learning the essentials of RStudio and GitHub.
I am working with great people and have the chance to learn from others.
Playing and watching sports (mainly baseball and golf), watching sitcoms, playing with my dog
Senior Data Scientist
I completed my HBSc and MSc in Health & Diseases and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. I obtained my PhD at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in Translational Medicine.
I joined GEMINI after completing my graduate training, where I conducted data-heavy research studies involving a wide range of analytical approaches. During my PhD, I led a Global Health research project on inpatient mortality of malnourished children. I applied statistical modeling to hospital health records and identified clinical predictors for mortality to support risk stratification. Using machine learning approaches, I integrated clinical data with high-dimensional lab data (metabolome, proteome, biomarkers) to understand roles of systemic inflammation and metabolism in mortality for intervention development. For my Masters, I used bioinformatics to study host-microbial interactions in an animal model of infectious colitis.
I work with motivated and friendly individuals
I know that my work can make a positive impact in people’s lives
Playing with my dogs
Exploring new food and restaurants
Puzzle solving activities: board games, escape room, video games etc.
Data Quality Analyst
I completed my Bachelor of Science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, majoring in Statistics and minoring in Risk Management.
Used to work at a start-up company in healthcare industry, focusing on the vital data of elderly individuals, and work on data pipeline and statistical modelling. I have also worked as a data analyst for a retail company called A.S Watsons, where I prepared data analyses for personalization projects.
Work with an innovative team on a meaningful industry, and learn from each other
Playing board games and table tennis
Spending quality time with my friends and my cat Miso
Research Data Scientist
I completed a bachelors degree in Mathematics in China, followed by a masters degree in Mathematics, focusing on Statistics from the University of Ottawa.
Prior to GEMINI, I worked at IMBA Medical as a Data Analyst to support the COVID-19 health screening system. Some of my duties included extracting and maintaining datasets integrity on cloud-based software, performing data analysis, statistical modelling, machine learning algorithms and data visualizations. I helped my company achieve an 80% increase in data automation efficiency and 15% revenue growth.
During my masters, I collaborated with researchers from various disciplines and worked on an Epidemiologist research project. This project focused on creating an algorithm for simulating data, which was used for the investigation of Maternal-Gene-Environments and Pathway Effects. These effects were then evaluated based on their potential impact on birth defects. As far as we know, we were the first team to make a ground-breaking discovery on a worldwide genome level.
When I know what I am doing is helping people and potentially helping the world.
Painting
Travel
Working out
Spending time with family and pets