Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Osvaldo Espin-​Garcia

Research Interests

• Statistical genetics
• Genetic epidemiology
• Integrative multi-omics studies
• Deep phenotyping
• Design and analysis of two-phase studies
• Microbiome data analysis
• Joint models of longitudinal and time-to-event data
• Latent growth mixture models

Note that as of July 1, 2022 I am a full time faculty at Western University (link).

Education

PhD, Biostatistics, University of Toronto
MMath, Statistics-Biostatistics, University of Waterloo
BSc, Actuarial Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico

Other Affiliations

Principal Biostatistician, Department of Biostatistics, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre & Schroeder Arthritis Institute, Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network

Selected Publications (complete list)

Espin-Garcia O, Baghel M, Brar N, Whittaker JL and Ali SA. (2022). Can genetics guide exercise prescriptions in osteoarthritis? Front. Rehabilit. Sci. 3:930421. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2022.930421.

Ali SA+, Espin-Garcia O+, Wong AK, Potla P, Pastrello C, McIntyre M, Lively S, Jurisica I, Gandhi R, Kapoor M. (2022). Circulating microRNAs differentiate fast-progressing from slow-progressing and non-progressing knee osteoarthritis in the Osteoarthritis Initiative cohort. Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease. 14. doi: 10.1177/1759720X221082917

Espin-Garcia O, Craiu RV, Bull SB. (2021). Two-phase sample selection strategies for design and analysis in post-genome wide association fine-mapping studie. Statistics in Medicine. 40 (30), 6792-6817.

Turpin W, Lee SH, Raygoza Garay JA, Madsen KL, Meddings JB, Bedrani L, Power N, Espin-Garcia O, Xu W, Smith MI, Griffiths AM, Moayyedi P, Turner D, Seidman EG, Steinhart HA, Marshall JK, Jacobson K, Mack D, Huynh H, Bernstein CN, Paterson AD, Croitoru K; CCC GEM Project Research Consortium. (2020). Increased Intestinal Permeability is Associated with Later Development of Crohn’s Disease. Gastroenterology. S0016-5085(20)35021-6. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.08.005.

Ali SA, Gandhi R, Potla P, Keshavarzi S, Espin-Garcia O, Shestopaloff K, Pastrello C, Bethune-Waddell D, Lively S, Perruccio AV, Rampersaud YR, Veillette C, Rockel JS, Jurisica I, Appleton T, Kapoor M. (2020). Sequencing identifies a distinct signature of circulating microRNAs in early radiographic knee osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. S1063-4584(20)31081-5. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2020.07.003. [Online ahead of print]

Espin-Garcia O, Croitoru K, Xu W. (2019). A finite mixture model for X-chromosome association with an emphasis on microbiome data analysis. Genet Epidemiol. 43(4):427-439. doi: 10.1002/gepi.22190 [Highlighted as paper of the month in February 2019. https://twitter.com/genepisociety/status/1100017574631301122]

Turpin W, Espin-Garcia O, Bedrani L, Madsen K, Meddings JB, Raygoza Garay JA, Silverberg MS, Smith MI, Griffiths AM, Moayyedi P, Marshall JK, Mack D, Seidman EG, Ropeleski M, Feagan BG, Jacobson K, Turner D, Walters T, Paterson AD, CCC GEM Project Research Consortium, Xu W, Croitoru K. (2019). Analysis of Genetic Association of Intestinal Permeability in Healthy First-degree Relatives of Patients with Crohn’s Disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis. pii: izz116. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izz116

Shepshelovich D, Townsend AR, Espin-Garcia O, Latifovic L, O’Callaghan CJ, Jonker DJ, Tu D, Chen E, Morgen E, Price TJ, Shapiro J, Siu LL, Kubo M, Dobrovic A, Ratain MJ, Xu W, Mushiroda T, Liu G. (2018). Fc-gamma receptor polymorphisms, cetuximab therapy, and overall survival in the CCTG CO.20 trial of metastatic colorectal cancer. Cancer Med. 7(11):5478-5487. doi: 10.1002/cam4.1819

Romanescu RG, Espin-Garcia O, Ma J, Bull SB. (2018). Integrating epigenetic, genetic, and phenotypic data to uncover gene-region associations with triglycerides in the GOLDN study. BMC Proc. 12(Suppl 9):57. doi: 10.1186/s12919-018-0142-9. eCollection 2018

Turpin W, Bedrani L, Espin-Garcia O, Xu W, Silverberg MS, Smith MI, Guttman DS, Griffiths A, Moayyedi P, Panaccione R, Huynh H, Steinhart H, Aumais G, Shestopaloff K, Dieleman LA, Turner D, Paterson AD, Croitoru K. (2018). FUT2 genotype and secretory status are not associated with fecal microbial composition and inferred function in healthy subjects. Gut Microbes.

Lebenbaum M, Espin-Garcia O, Li Y, Rosella LC. (2018). Development and validation of a population based risk algorithm for obesity: The Obesity Population Risk Tool (OPoRT). PLoS One. 13(1)

Espin-Garcia O, Craiu RV, Bull SB. (2018). Two-Phase Designs for Joint Quantitative-Trait-Dependent and Genotype-Dependent Sampling in Post-GWAS Regional Sequencing. Genetic Epidemiology. 42(1): 104-116.

Turpin W, Espin-Garcia O, Xu W, Silverberg MS, Kevans D, Smith MI, Guttman DS, Griffiths A, Panancionne R, Otley A, Xu L, Shestopaloff K, Moreno-Hagelsieb G, The GEM Project Research Consortium, Paterson AD, Croitoru K. (2016). Association of Host Genome with Intestinal Microbial Composition in a Large Healthy Cohort. Nature Genetics. 48(11): 1413–1417.

Pass HI, Goparaju C, Espin-Garcia O, Donington J, Carbone M, Patel D, Chen Z, Feld R, Cho J, Gadgeel S, Wozniak A, Chachoua A, Leighl N, Tsao MS, de Perrot M, Xu W, Liu G. (2016). Plasma Biomarker Enrichment of Clinical Prognostic Indices in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. J Thorac Oncol. 11(6): 900-9.

Espin-Garcia O, Shen X, Qiu X, Brhane Y, Liu G, Xu W. (2014). Genetic Association Analysis for Common Variants in the GAW18 Data: a Dirichlet Regression Approach. BMC Proceedings. S70