Deborah Marshall

B.Sc., M.H.S.A., Ph.D.

Research Interests

Dr Marshall is an Associate Professor (part-time) in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Her research grants are focused in the area of measuring patient preferences and systems dynamics modelling in cancer and osteoarthritis.  Dr. Marshall's academic training includes a doctorate degree from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Scholar, a master of science degree in health services research from the University of Alberta, and a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from the University of Toronto. 

Research Interests:
1)      Methods:
         a.     Health services and systems research focused on measuring system performance
                 and patient outcomes using decision analysis methodologies, particularly Markov 
                 and system dynamics modeling.
         b.     Measurement of patient preferences using conjoint analysis and methods to
                 incorporate preferences into the assessment of health interventions.
         c.     Health technology assessment and evidence based methods of appraisal.

2)      Applied Areas:
         a.     Musculoskeletal disease, e.g. osteoarthritis and osteoporosis
         b.     Colorectal cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer
         c.     Personalised Medicine and pharmacogenomics,  Center for Translational and
                 Policy Research on  Personalized Medicine (TRANSPERS)  e.g. HER-2 and gene
                 expression profiling (GEP) in breast cancer 

Current Research Projects

1)  The Impact of Adherence to Guidelines on Clinical Outcomes and the Use of Cancer Care
     Services:  Testing, treatment and Monitoring Guidelines in Patients with Early Stage Breast
     Cancer. (Principal Investigator, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research)
2)  Total Joint Replacement: Strategic Management for Timely Treatment.
     (Co-investigator, CIHR Emerging Teams in Applied Health Services and Policy Research)
3)  A Critical Appraisal of Conjoint Analysis Studies in Health - What are best practices?
     (Principal Investigator)
4)  Creating Bone and Joint Health from the Bedside to the Bench and Back Again.
     (Co-Investigator, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Osteoarthritis Team
     Grant)
5)  Personalized Medicine for Colorectal and Breast Cancer. (US National Institutes of Health
     P01, Principal Investigator (Economics subproject) and Program Co-investigator).
     Co-investigator Lead for Health Economics in the Center for Translational and Policy
     Research on Personalized Medicine (TRANSPERS) - the first major US National Institutes 
     of Health grant to focus on translational health policy issues relating to pharmacogenomics

Selected Publications

Johnson FR, Ozdemir S, Mohamed AF, Marshall DA, Phillips KA.  How does cost matter in health-care discrete-choice experiments?  Health Econ, 2010.  DOI:  10.1002/hec.1591  

Bridges JFP, Hauber B, Marshall DA, Lloyd A, Prosser LA, Regier DA, Johnson FR, Mauskopf J. A checklist for conjoint analysis applications in health: report of the ISPOR conjoint analysis good research practices taskforce. Value in Health 2009 (In press).

McCarron E, Tarride JE, Marshall DA, Pullenayegum E, Goeree R. Handling Uncertainty in Economic Evaluations of Patient Level Data: A Review of the Use of Bayesian Methods.  International Journal of Health Technology Assessment 2009; 25(4):546-54. 

Marshall DA and Hux M.  Design and analysis issues for economic analysis alongside clinical trials.
Medical Care 2009; 47(7) Suppl 1: S14-S20.

Ferrusi I, Marshall DA, Kulin NA, Leighl N, Phillips KA. Looking back at 10 years of trastuzumab therapy: What is the role of HER-2 testing?  A systematic review of health economic analyses. Personalized Medicine 2009;6:193-215. 

Gooch K, Smith D, Wasylak T, Faris P, Marshall DA, Khong H, Hibbert J, Parker R, Zernicke R, Beaupre L, Pearce T, Johnston B, and Frank D. The design and execution of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to evaluate a new evidence based continuum of care for the delivery of primary hip and knee replacements: The Alberta Hip and Knee Replacement Pilot Project. International Journal of Health Technology Assessment 2009; 25;2: 113-123. 

Phillips KA, Marshall DA, Haas J, Elkin E, Liang S-Y, Hassett M, Ferrusi I, Brock JE and Van Bebber S.  Clinical Practice Patterns and Cost-Effectiveness of HER2 Testing Strategies in Breast Cancer Patients.  Cancer, Accepted for publication, Oct 2009.

Phillips KA on behalf of the TRANSPERS Research Group. Closing the Evidence Gap in the Use of Emerging Testing Technologies in Clinical Practice. JAMA 2008: 300(21): 2522-24.

Marshall DA, Johnson FR, Kulin NA, Ozdemir S, Walsh J, Marshall JK, van Bebber, S, Phillips KA.
How do physician expectations of patient preferences for colorectal cancer screening tests differ from actual preferences? A comparison in Canada and the United States using a stated choice survey. Health Economics 2009; 18(12):1420-39. 

Tosteson ANA, Burge RT, Marshall DA, Lindsay R. Cost-effectiveness of osteoporosis therapies for women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. American J Managed Care 2008;14(9):605-615. 

Marshall DA, Douglas PR, Drummond M, MacLeod S, Torrance GW, Manti O, Cheruvu L, Corvari. Guidelines for conducting pharmaceutical budget impact analyses for submission to public drug plans in Canada. PharmacoEconomics. 2008;26(6):477-495.