Data scientist brings expertise to Institute

Dr. Na Li, PhD, is one of the lucky few whose work is also her passion.

Li, who joined faculty at the University of Calgary as an assistant professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences in January 2021, has a long-standing love for data that serves her well in her new role.

Li’s new job is within the Centre for Health Informatics, where she conducts health research applying data science and operations research into health care studies.

“My biggest hobby is working with data,” says Li with a laugh. “My new role combines all of my interests with my job.”

Li completed a PhD in the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences at Western University in 2016. She then began a three-year job as a biostatistician at the McMaster Centre for Transfusion Research.

She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Computing and Software at McMaster University in 2020, working on a blood demand forecasting and inventory management project in collaboration with Canadian Blood Services.

Her research focuses on solving real world problems in health care through numerous techniques using data, such as mathematical modeling, machine learning and applied statistics.

Li recently received a CIHR grant for a project with that aims to build a machine learning model using multi sources of data, mainly from electronic medical records, that can be used to improve identification of acute myocardial infarctions (AMI), also known as heart attacks. Machine learning works by creating an algorithm that “teaches” a computer to analyze data to identify patterns and trends.

Li’s project is underway at three sites across Canada and uses a new technique of machine learning, called federated learning, that trains an algorithm across multiple servers holding local data samples without sharing them.

Federated learning allows for a larger sample size while still maintaining privacy.

Li is excited about the potential of her work to solve real world problems in health care.

“This framework could be used for numerous diseases,” she says. “I love to play with data, and I am happy to use these skills in population health research, which has the potential for great impact on Canadians.”

Dr. Na Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine. She holds an adjunct assistant professorship at McMaster University. She is a member of both the O’Brien Institute for Population Health and the Libin Cardiovascular Institute.