Onchee Yu, MS
"At KPWHRI, I apply statistical methods to studies ranging from women’s health to pharmacoepidemiology to vaccine safety and effectiveness, in an effort to improve health care for patients.”
Onchee Yu, MS
Principal Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Onchee.Yu@kp.org
206-287-2389
Biography
Onchee Yu, MS, is a biostatistician who has extensive experience in statistical applications to electronic health records (EHR) data, which she has contributed to studies related to women’s health, pharmacoepidemiology, and vaccine safety and effectiveness. Ms. Yu has been a key member of the immunization research program at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) over 20 years. Her work focuses on applying statistical methods to evaluate vaccine effectiveness, side effects, and safety. In collaboration with KPWHRI biostatisticians Jennifer Nelson, PhD, and Andrea Cook, PhD, Ms. Yu developed and improved statistical methods for monitoring the safety of postmarketing vaccines in the Vaccine Safety Datalink project.
Much of Ms. Yu's recent research is in pharmacoepidemiology, which is studying how drugs are used in a population and their impact on public health. She is an expert in statistical analysis in a complex, clinically important area — determining if medicine for one condition (for example, cardiovascular medications) affects risk of other illnesses (for example, dementia).
Addiction is another scientific area that Ms. Yu is involved in. In particular, she is a biostatistician on the PROUD (PRimary care Opioid Use Disorders) trial, a pragmatic implementation trial conducted in 6 diverse health systems to evaluate a program for increasing medication treatment for opioid use disorders within primary care settings.
Ms. Yu is also heavily involved in aging and geriatric research including collaborations with scientists on the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study, a long-standing and ongoing longitudinal cohort study exploring risk factors related to dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and healthy aging.
Ms. Yu obtained her master’s degree in biostatistics from the University of Washington in 1999. She also has prior experience and contribution to research in cancer and women’s health.
Research interests and experience
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Biostatistics
Survival analysis; classification and regression tree analysis
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Cancer
Biostatistics; medication use and cancer outcomes
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Vaccines & Infectious Diseases
Biostatistics; vaccine safety and efficacy; postmarketing vaccine safety study design and analysis
Women's Health
Biostatistics; incidence and prevalence estimations; validation of diagnosis codes; automated case-finding algorithms
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Medication Use & Patient Safety
Biostatistics; medication use and cancer outcomes; postmarketing drug and vaccine safety study design and analysis; safety signal detection methods
Recent publications
Schwarze-Taufiq TA, Pranoto I, Hui K, Kinoshita C, Yu O, Crane PK, Gray SL, Young JE. Anticholinergic drugs and dementia risk: Using stem cell-based studies to complement pharmacoepidemiology in understanding mechanisms of risk. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2025 Feb 5;11(1):e70040. doi: 10.1002/trc2.70040. eCollection 2025 Jan-Mar. PubMed
Weinstein ZM, Yu O, Wartko PD, Samet JH, Bobb JF, Braciszewski JM, Arnsten JH, Murphy MT, Horigian VE, Stotts AL, Beers D, Bradley K. Does implementation of office based addiction treatment by a nurse care manager increase the duration of OUD treatment in primary care? A secondary analysis of the PROUD randomized control trial. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2024 Dec 1:265:112497. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.112497. Epub 2024 Nov 10. PubMed
Lapham GT, Hyun N, Bobb JF, Wartko PD, Matthews AG, Yu O, McCormack J, Lee AK, Liu DS, Samet JH, Zare-Mehrjerdi M, Braciszewski JM, Murphy MT, Arnsten JH, Horigian V, Caldeiro RM, Addis M, Bradley KA. Nurse care management of opioid use disorder treatment after 3 years: A secondary analysis of the PROUD cluster randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Nov 4;7(11):e2447447. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.47447. PubMed
Bobb JF, Idu AE, Qiu H, Yu O, Boudreau DM, Wartko PD, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Lee AK, Campbell CI, Saxon AJ, Liu DS, Altschuler A, Samet JH, Northrup TF, Braciszewski JM, Murphy MT, Arnsten JH, Cunningham CO, Horigian VE, Szapocznik J, Glass JE, Caldeiro RM, Tsui JI, Burganowski RP, Weinstein ZM, Murphy SM, Hyun N, Bradley KA. Offering nurse care management for opioid use disorder in primary care: Impact on emergency and hospital utilization in a cluster-randomized implementation trial. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2024;261:111350. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111350. Epub 2024 Jun 10. PubMed
Christ JP, Yu O, Barton B, Schulze-Rath R, Grafton J, Cronkite D, Covey J, Kelley A, Holden E, Hilpert J, Sacher F, Micks E, Reed SD. Risk factors for incident polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2024 Apr 1. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2023.0741. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Research
Increasing opioid use disorder treatment in primary care
A trial led by KPWHRI researchers found that adding nurse care managers helped more people get needed treatment.
Research
New numbers could help diagnose and treat a common, complex condition
Researchers gain better understanding of polycystic ovary syndrome's impact in U.S.
aging & geriatrics
Do drugs cause falls for adults with dementia?
Researchers find a relationship between prescribed central nervous system-active medications and increased risk of falling among older people with dementia.
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