Eric A. Johnson, MS

Eric Johnson

“We’re on the forefront of research in many areas. It’s our responsibility to make sure the research is done well and is useful to those who practice medicine.”

Eric A. Johnson, MS

Senior Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Eric.Johnson@kp.org
206-287-2015

Biography

Eric Johnson, MS, completed the University of Washington’s biostatistics master’s program in 2008. His thesis explored common theoretical problems involved with missing data. He quantified them, highlighting conditions leading to suboptimal performance, and provided new guidelines for using various multiple imputation techniques.

During his time at KPWHRI, Mr. Johnson has been involved with multiple projects involving direct intervention with the care-delivery system, observational studies and microsimulation modeling on colorectal and ovarian cancer, massage therapy, and estimating radiation exposure from medical imaging. His current responsibilities lie in research on obesity, opioids, and mental health. 

Before earning his master’s degree, Mr. Johnson worked for four years as a research assistant on the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), performing statistical analyses, verifying incoming data, and developing a process for providing data sets to all MESA researchers. Later, he was a research statistician with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), serving as the primary analyst in an investigation of how well VA hospitals performed non-cardiac surgeries. Mr. Johnson assessed statistical models used by the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program—then devised, tested, and implemented improved models, reporting his findings to VA leadership.

Research interests and experience 

Recent publications

Penfold RB, Whiteside U, Johnson EE, Stewart CC, Oliver MM, Shortreed SM, Beck A, Coleman KJ, Rossom RC, Lawrence JM, Simon GE Utility of item 9 of the patient health questionnaire in the prospective identification of adolescents at risk of suicide attempt 2021 Oct;51(5):854-863. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12751. Epub 2021-07-31. PubMed

Walker RL, Shortreed SM, Ziebell RA, Johnson E, Boggs JM, Lynch FL, Daida YG, Ahmedani BK, Rossom R, Coleman KJ, Simon GE Evaluation of Electronic Health Record-Based Suicide Risk Prediction Models on Contemporary Data 2021 Aug;12(4):778-787. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1733908. Epub 2021-08-18. PubMed

Coley RY, Johnson E, Simon GE, Cruz M, Shortreed SM Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Performance of Prediction Models for Death by Suicide After Mental Health Visits 2021 Jul;78(7):726-734. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0493. PubMed

Koffman L, Levis AW, Arterburn D, Coleman KJ, Herrinton LJ, Cooper J, Ewing J, Fischer H, Fraser JR, Johnson E, Taylor B, Theis MK, Liu L, Courcoulas A, Li R, Fisher DP, Amsden L, Haneuse S Investigating Bias from Missing Data in an Electronic Health Records-Based Study of Weight Loss After Bariatric Surgery 2021 May;31(5):2125-2135. doi: 10.1007/s11695-021-05226-y. Epub 2021-01-19. PubMed

Li RA, Liu L, Arterburn D, Coleman KJ, Courcoulas AP, Fisher D, Haneuse S, Johnson E, Theis MK, Yoon TK, Fisher H, Fraser JR, Herrinton LJ Five-year Longitudinal Cohort Study of Reinterventions After Sleeve Gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass 2021 Apr;273(4):758-765. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000003401. PubMed

Tsui JI, Akosile MA, Lapham GT, Boudreau DM, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJH, Glass JE, Rossom RC, Murphy MT, Cunningham CO, Arnsten JH, Thakral M, Saxon AJ, Merrill JO, Samet JH, Bart GB, Campbell CI, Loree AM, Silva A, Stotts AL, Ahmedani B, Braciszewski JM, Hechter RC, Northrup TF, Horigian VE, Bradley KA Prevalence and Medication Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder Among Primary Care Patients with Hepatitis C and HIV 2021 Apr;36(4):930-937. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-06389-7. Epub 2021-02-10. PubMed

Matson TE, Lapham GT, Bobb JF, Johnson E, Richards JE, Lee AK, Bradley KA, Glass JE Cannabis use, other drug use, and risk of subsequent acute care in primary care patients 2020 Nov;216:108227. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108227. Epub 2020-08-08. PubMed

Boudreau DM, Lapham G, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Liu D, Campbell CI, Rossom RC, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJ, Arnsten JH, Cunningham CO, Glass JE, Murphy MT, Zare M, Hechter RC, Ahmedani B, Braciszewski JM, Horigian VE, Szapocznik J, Samet JH, Saxon AJ, Schwartz RP, Bradley KA Documented opioid use disorder and its treatment in primary care patients across six U.S. health systems 2020 Mar;112S:41-48. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2020.02.001. PubMed

Lapham G, Boudreau DM, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Liu D, Samet JH, Saxon AJ, Campbell CI, Glass JE, Rossom RC, Murphy MT, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJH, Bradley KA, PROUD Collaborative Investigators Prevalence and treatment of opioid use disorders among primary care patients in six health systems 2020 Feb;207:107732. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107732. Epub 2019-11-15. PubMed

Carrell DS, Albertson-Junkans L, Ramaprasan A, Scull G, Mackwood M, Johnson E, Cronkite DJ, Baer A, Hansen K, Green CA, Hazlehurst BL, Janoff SL, Coplan PM, DeVeaugh-Geiss A, Grijalva CG, Liang C, Enger CL, Lange J, Shortreed SM, Von Korff M Measuring problem prescription opioid use among patients receiving long-term opioid analgesic treatment: development and evaluation of an algorithm for use in EHR and claims data 2020 Jan;9(1):97-105. doi: 10.1080/21556660.2020.1750419. Epub 2020-04-28. PubMed

 

Research

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Study finds bariatric surgery linked to substantially lower risk of blood clots long-term

Largest study to date helps patients weigh risks and benefits of surgery.

New findings

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Simpler models to identify suicide risk perform similarly to more complex ones

Models that are easier to explain, use could have better uptake in health care settings.

New findings

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Research roundup on natural language processing and machine learning

Using doctor's notes to learn about drug reactions, dementia, and cannabis use.

New findings

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Is bariatric surgery helpful in chronic kidney disease?

David Arterburn and colleagues find that bariatric surgery is linked to lower death risk in persons with obesity and CKD.