Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Nicholas Mitsakakis MSc, PhD, P.Stat.

Research Interests

• Heath Data Science and Machine Learning
• Medical prediction modelling
• Statistical methods for health economics
• Clinical trials
• Graphical models

EDUCATION & TRAINING HISTORY

2016 Professional Statistician (P.Stat.) accreditation, Statistical Society of Canada

2010 PhD in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

1996 MSc in Information Technology: Knowledge Based Systems, Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh, UK

1995 MSc in Mathematics, University of Athens, Greece

1991 BSc in Mathematics, University of Athens, Greece

Other affiliations

Senior Biostatistician and Associate Scientist, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute

Adjunct Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba

Investigator, Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment Collaborative

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

1. Regression methods for semi-continuous data
2. Identification of health state transitions from administrative data

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

1. Kundu A, Chaiton M, Billington R, Grace D, Fu R, Logie CH, Baskerville B, Yager C, Mitsakakis N, Schwartz R. Machine Learning Applications in Mental health and Substance Use Research Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning and Two-spirit Population: Scoping Review. JMIR Medical Informatics. 03/10/2021:28962 (forthcoming/in press)
2. Wong WW, Wong J, Bremner KE, Saeed Y, Mason K, Phoon A, Feng Z, Feld JJ, Mitsakakis N, Powis J, Krahn M. Time Costs and Out-of-Pocket Costs in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients in a Publicly Funded Health System. Value in Health. 2021 Sep 22. In press
3. Fu R, Mitsakakis N, Chaiton M. A machine learning approach to identify correlates of current e-cigarette use in Canada. Exploration Medicine 2021; 2: 74-85, https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2021.00033
4. Fu R, Kundu A, Mitsakakis N, Elton-Marshall T, Wang W, Hill S, Bondy SJ, Hamilton H, Selby P, Schwartz R, Chaiton MO. Machine learning applications in tobacco research: a scoping review. Tobacco Control. 2021 Aug 27.
5. Loiacono MM, Nelson CB, Grootendorst P, Webb MD, Hall LL, Kwong JC, Mitsakakis N, Zulueta S, Chit A, Impact of a peer comparison intervention on seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in community pharmacy: a national cluster randomized study, Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, In press
6. Pong S, Urner M, Fowler RA, Mitsakakis N, Seto W, Hutchison JS, Science M, Daneman N, Testing for non-inferior mortality: a systematic review of non-inferiority margin sizes and trial characteristics, BMJ Open, 2021, 11(4) e044480
7. Wong WWL, Haines A, Bremner KE, Yao Z, Calzavara A, Mitsakakis N, Kwong JC, Sander B, Thein HH, Krahn MD, Health care costs associated with chronic hepatitis C virus infection in Ontario, Canada: a retrospective cohort study, CMAJ open, 2021, 9(1) E167
8. Parker JL, Kuzulugil S, Pereverzev K, Mac S, Lopes G, Shah Z, Weerasinghe A, Rubinger D, Falconi A, Bener A, Caglayan B, Tangri R, and Mitsakakis N, Does Biomarker Use in Oncology Improve Clinical Trial Failure Risk?  A Large-Scale Analysis, Cancer Medicine, Cancer Med. 2021 Feb 23. doi: 10.1002/cam4.3732. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33620160.
9. Karnam RS, Mitsakakis N, Saracino G, Lilly L, Asrani SK, Bhat M, Predicting the Outcome of Liver Transplantation in patients with NASH cirrhosis: the NASH LT Risk-Benefit score, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2021 Jan 16.
10. Urner M, Mitsakakis N, Vorona S, Chen L, Sklar MC, Dres M, Rubenfeld G, Brochard L, Ferguson N, Fan E, Goligher E, Identifying Patients at Risk for Diaphragm Atrophy during Mechanical Ventilation using Routinely Available Clinical Data, Respiratory Care. 2020 Dec 8
11. Dimitriou F, Urner-Bloch U, Eggenschwiler C, Mitsakakis N, Mangana J, Dummer R, Urner M, The Association between Immune Checkpoint or Kinase Inhibitor Therapy and Uveitis in Patients with Advanced Melanoma, European Journal of Cancer. 2021 Feb 1;144:215-23.
12. Sekercioglu N, Fu R, Kim SJ, Mitsakakis N, Machine learning for predicting long-term kidney allograft survival: A scoping review, Irish Journal of Medical Science. 2020 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-020-02332-1
13. Bond E, Abrahamyan L, Anam K, Gershon A, Krahn M, Li P, Mian R, Mitsakakis N, Sadatsafavi M, To T, Pechlivanoglou P, Understanding resource utilization and mortality in COPD to support policy making: A microsimulation study, PLoS one, 2020 Aug 20;15(8):e0236559.
14. Isaranuwatchai W, Fazli GS, Bierman AS, Lipscombe LL, Mitsakakis N, Shah BR, Wu F, Johns A, Booth GL, Socioeconomic disparities and health care costs in persons with diabetes: A population-based cohort study, Diabetes Care, Jul; dc191536
15. Loiacono MM, Mitsakakis N, Kwong JC, Gomez GB, Chit A, Grootendorst P, Development and validation of a clinical prediction tool for season influenza vaccination in England, JAMA Network Open, 3 (6), e207743-e207743
16. McLellan E, Lam K, Behringer E, Chan V, Bozak D, Mitsakakis N, Perlas A, High flow heated and humidified nasal oxygen therapy does not result in gastric insufflation during spontaneous ventilation, British Journal of Anesthesia, 2020 Mar 31
17. Loiacono M, Mahmud SM, Chit A, van Aalst R, Kwong JC, Mitsakakis N, Skinner L, Thommes E, Bricout H, Grootendorst P, Patient and practice level factors associated with seasonal influenza vaccine uptake among at-risk adults in England: an age-stratified six-year retrospective cohort study, Vaccine: X, 2020 Apr 9;4:100054.
18. Mitsakakis N, Bremner K, Tomlinson G and Krahn M. Exploring the benefits of transformations in health utility mapping, Medical Decision Making, 2020, 40 (2), 183-197
19. Saeed YA, Phoon A, Bielecki JM, Mitsakakis N, Bremner KE, Abrahamyan L, Pechlivanoglou P, Feld JJ, Krahn M, Wong WW. A systematic review and meta-analysis of health utilities in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Value in Health. 2020 Jan 1;23(1):127-37.
20. Fu R, Mitsakakis N, Coyte P, A Healthcare Cost Calculator for Older Patients over the First Year After Renal Transplantation, In 2019 ITU Kaleidoscope: ICT for Health: Networks, Standards and Innovation (ITU K), pp. 1-9. IEEE, 2019.
21. Abrahamyan L, Huszti E, Bremner KE, Pechlivanoglou P, Mitsakakis N, Krahn M, New Insights into the Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer in Ontario, Cancer Investigation, 2019;37(10):513
22. Gupta A, Slater J, Boyne D, Mitsakakis N, Béliveau A, Druzdzel M, Brenner D, Hussain S, Arora P, Probabilistic Graphical Modeling for Estimating Risk of Coronary Artery Disease: Applications of a Flexible Machine-Learning Method, Medical Decision Making, 2019 Nov;39(8):1032-44
23. Fitzpatrick M, Rac V, Mitsakakis N et SIESTA – Home Sleep Study with BresoDx® for Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Sleep Medicine, 2020 Jan 1;65:45-53.
24. Marcus L, Mackeigan L, Leblanc K, Orlov D, Mitsakakis N, Austin Z, Jassal SV, Battistella M, Management of Stroke Risk in Patients on Hemodialysis with Atrial Fibrillation: A Comparison of Cardiologists and Nephrologists in Canada, Clinical Nephrology, 2019 Nov;92(5):226
25. Levy L, Tigert A, Huszti E, Moshkelgosha S, Joe B, Boonstra K, Saito T, Tikkanen J, Keshavjee S, Mitsakakis N, Juvet S, Martinu T. Epithelial Cell Death Markers in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Correlate with Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction Subtypes and Survival in Lung Transplant Recipients. Transplant International. April 2019, 2019 Sep;32(9):965
26. Krahn M, Bremner K, de Oliveira C, Dixon SN, McFarlane P, Garg AX, Mitsakakis N, Blake PG, Harvey R, Pechlivanoglou P. Home dialysis is associated with lower costs and better survival than other modalities: a population-based study in Ontario, Canada. Peritoneal Dialysis International. 2019;39(6):553-61.
27. Parker JL, Domazetoski E, Bureau M, Lopes G, Kuzulugil SS, Mitsakakis N. A Risk-Based Paradigm of Biomarkers in Clinical Trials. In Companion and Complementary Diagnostics 2019 Jan 1 (pp. 399-412). Academic Press.
28. Francis T, Kabboul N, Rac V, Mitsakakis N, Pechlivanoglou P, Bielecki J, Alter D, Krahn M. The Effect of Cardiac Rehabilitation on Health Related Quality of Life in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: A Meta-Analysis. Canadian Journal of Cardiology. 2018 Nov 24. In press
29. Wąsowicz M, Jerath A, Luksun W, Sharma V, Mitsakakis N, Meineri M, Katznelson R, Yau T, Rao V, Beattie WS. Comparison of propofol-based versus volatile-based anaesthesia and postoperative sedation in cardiac surgical patients: a prospective, randomized study. Anaesthesiology intensive therapy. 2018 Jun 18.
30. Deng L, Lou W, Mitsakakis N. Modeling right-censored medical cost data in regression and the effects of covariates, Statistical Methods and Applications, 2018, DOI 10.1007/s10260-018-0428-0 [online first]
31. Tsang DT, Jones JM, Samadi O, Shah S, Mitsakakis N, Catton CN, Jeon W, To J, Breunis H, Alibhai SMH. Can a prescription coupled with education improve bone health for patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy? A before/after study. Supportive Care in Cancer, 2018 Aug;26(8):2861
32. Alharbi S, Ahmad Z, Bookman A, Touma Z, Sanchez-Guerrero J, Mitsakakis N, Johnson SR. Epidemiology and Survival of Systemic Sclerosis-Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Overlap Syndrome. The Journal of Rheumatology, 2018 Oct;45(10):1406-10.
33. Xie X, Ye C, Mitsakakis N. The Impact of the Underlying Risk in Control Group and Effect Measures in Non-Inferiority Trials With Time-to-Event Data: A Simulation Study. Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, 2018 May; 10(5): 376–383.
34. Haldar SH, Magtibay K, Porta-Sanchez A, Masse S, Mitsakakis N, Lai PFH, Azam MA, Asta J, Kusha M, Dorian P, Ha ACT, Chauhan V, Deno DC, Nanthakumar K. Resolving Bipolar Electrogram Voltages during Atrial Fibrillation Using Omnipolar Mapping. Circulation: Arythmia and Electrophysiology, 2017, 10(9): e005018.
35. Sahakyan Y, Abrahamyan L, Shahid N, Stanimirovic A, Ryan W, Pechlivanoglou P, Mitsakakis N, Krahn M, Rac VE.Changes in blood pressure among patients in the Ontario Telehomecare program: an observational longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 2018 Jul;24(6):420-7.
36. Cameron A, MacKeigan, Mitsakakis N, Pugsley J. Multiple Mini-Interview Predictive Validity for Performance on a Pharmacy Licensing Exam. Medical Education, 2017; 51: 379-389
37. Mitsakakis N. and Tomlinson G. Bayesian regression models for estimation of disease-specific net costs using aggregate data, Stat Methods Med Res. 2017, 26(3): 1110-1129
38. Bielecki J, Wong J, Mitsakakis N, Shah PS, Krahn MD, Rac VE. Disparities in a provision of in-hospital post-arrest interventions for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the elderly population – protocol for a systematic review.Systematic Reviews, 2016 Apr7; 5(1), 55