Senior Lecturer
Dr Andrea Schaffer
PhD, University of New South Wales, Australia (2017)
MBiostat, University of Sydney, Australia (2011)
MSc(Epidemiology), McGill University, Canada (2004)
BSc(Hons)(Microbiology and Immunology), McGill University, Canada (2001)
Medicine & Health
Centre for Big Data Research
Dr Andrea Schaffer is a Senior Research Fellow in the Medicines Policy Research Unit at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health and holds an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship. She received in PhD from UNSW in 2017. She is a pharmacoepidemiologist and biostatistician with 13 years’ experience conducting population health research using routinely collected Australian health data on a variety of topics. Her current research involves using state of the art statistical methodologies to explore the impact of pharmaceutical policy on medicine utilisation, prescribing practices, and health outcomes, with a particular interest in opioids, psychotropic medicines, and cardiovascular disease. She is an expert in interrupted time series analysis. Some of her current and past projects include: quantifying the impact of negative media on statin use and discontinuation; investigating the impact of increased restrictions on alprazolam on prescribing patterns and poisonings; examining trajectories of antipsychotic use before and during pregnancy; identifying predictors of adherence to cardiovascular medicines; and exploring changing patterns of opioid utilisation in Australia.
E-mail
Location
Centre for Big Data Research
Level 2, AGSM Building (G27)
- Publications
- Awards
- Grants
- Media
Publications
Awards
2019 - UNSW Medicine Early Career Academic Network (ECAN) Best Paper Award, Clinical, Health Services or Public Health category
2019 - Best Paper by an Early Career Researcher (Highly Commended) at the 11th Health Services and Research Association of Australian and New Zealand
2017 - Rising Star Award for best abstract presented by a junior investigator at the 10th Asian Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology
2016 - MJA, MDA National Prize for Excellence in Medical Research for best clinical paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2015
2015 - Stanley A. Edlavitch award for best abstract submitted by a student to the 31st International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology
Grants
NHMRC-EU Collaborative Research Grant (CIC, 2021-2023) - "ManagemenT of chronIc cardioMetabolic diseasE and treatment diScontinuity in adult ADHD PAtieNts (TIMESPAN)"
NHMRC Ideas Grant (CIA, 2021-2023) - "Disentangling the interrelationship between multimorbidity, multimedicine use, and cardiovascular health"
NHMRC Project Grant (CIC, 2019-2021) - "Health service and medicine utilisation before suicide: optimising suicide prevention using population-based linkage of routinely collected data"
NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (2019-2022) - "Evaluating population-level medicine policy interventions: generating high-quality evidence about intended and unintended consequences"
NHMRC Post-graduate scholarship (2014-2017)