Ray Fu

Dr. Rui (Ray) Fu

PhD, PStat
Pronouns: she/her/elle

Affiliations

Ohlson Professor in Health Economics

Ohlson Research Initiative

Assistant Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences

Assistant Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Oncology

Assistant Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Surgery

Member

Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute

Contact information

Email

rui.fu@ucalgary.ca

Web presence

ResearchGate

LinkedIn

Location

Office: Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre YC091115

Preferred method of communication

Admin Assistant

Marcia Garcia

Email: marcia.garcia@ucalgary.ca

Office: 403.220.2481

Background

Credentials

Professional Statistician (P.Stat), Statistical Society of Canada/Société statistique du Canada,

Educational Background

PhD Health Economics, University of Toronto,

MSc Health Economics, University of Toronto,

Honours BSc Mathematics and Statistics, University of Toronto,

Biography

Dr. Rui (Ray) Fu is a health economist, biostatistician (P.Stat), and assistant professor at the Departments of Community Health Sciences, Surgery & Oncology. She is the Ohlson Professor in Health Economics at the Ohlson Research Initiative, a research group dedicated to head and neck cancer. She received her MSc (2016-2018) and PhD (2018-2021) in health economics from the University of Toronto and completed Postdoctoral training in Evaluative Clinical Sciences (2021-2024) at Sunnybrook Research Institute of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. She is a quantitative methodologist with extensive experience applying statistical methods on health administrative data and working collaboratively with clinicians and policy decision-makers.

Research

Areas of Research

Health Economics
Applied Econometrics
Machine Learning
Health Services Research
Cancer Outcomes
Head & Neck Cancers
Summary of Research

Ray’s research focuses on cancer outcomes, including patient experience and economic consequences (for patients, system, and society) to provide insights on optimization of healthcare resource allocation. Ray applies her expertise in advanced statistics, including econometrics and machine learning, to answer meaningful questions that could lead to real-world quality improvement initiatives. Currently, Ray’s research focuses on individuals with head and neck cancer including their symptom burden and trajectory of care at the end of life.

Publications

  • Cancer incidence detection during multiple waves of COVID-19: the tsunami after the earthquake. Fu R, Sutradhar R, Li Q, Hanna T, Chan KKW, Irish JC, Coburn N, Hallet J, Dare A, Singh S, Parmar A, Earle CC, Lapointe-Shaw L, Krzyzanowska MK, Finelli A, Louie AV, Look Hong NJ, Witterick IJ, Mahar A, Urbach DR, Gomez D, McIsaac DI, Enepekides D, Eskander A. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. 20(11):1190-1192. (2022)
  • The protective role of adjuvant radiotherapy in low- and intermediate-grade major salivary gland malignancies: a Canadian Head & Neck Collaborative Research Initiative study. Morand GB, Eskander A, Fu R, de Almeida J, Goldstein D, Noroozi H, Hosni A, Seikaly H, Tabet P, Pyne JM, Matthews TW, Dort J, Nakoneshny S, Christopoulos A, Bahig H, Johnson S, Nichols A, Laxague F, Cecchini M, Du J, Shapiro J, Husain ZA, Dziegielewski PT, Hanubal K, Erovic B, Grasl S, Davis J, Monteiro E, Gete M, Witterick I, Sadeghi N, Richardson K, Shenouda G, Maniakas A, Landry V, Gupta M, Mlynarek AM, Pusztaszeri M, Sultanem K, Hier MP. Cancer. 129(20):3263-3274. (2023)
  • Primary tumor volume and survival in T3 glottic cancer treated with radiotherapy: a study of the Canadian Head & Neck Collaborative Research Initiative. Malik N, Fu R, Hainc N, Noel C, de Almeida J, Hosni A, Huang SH, Yu E, Dzioba A, Leung A, MacNeil D, Nichols AC, Chakraborty S, Johnson-Obaseki S, Schramm D, Whelan J, Forghani R, Hier MP, Morand G, Sultanem K, Dort J, Lysack J, Matthews W, Nakoneshny S, Gill G, Globerman A, Kerr P, Maralani P, Karam I, Eskander A. JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. 149(2): 103-109. (2023)
  • A machine learning approach to identify predictors of frequent vaping and vulnerable Californian youth subgroups. Fu R, Shi J, Chaiton M, Leventhal A, Unger JB, Barrington-Trimis J. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 24(7):1028-1036. (2022)
  • Inferring causality from observational studies: the role of instrumental variable analysis. Fu R and Kim SJ. Kidney International. 99(6):1303-1308. (2021)

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PubMed

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