Khaled El Emam, University of Ottawa

Research

Read how they describe their research on their University of Ottawa profile.

Artificial Intelligence In Health (Direct-To-Consumer Tools)Chronic Pain Co-Design / Co-Production Partnerships Digital Health Policy & Governance (Privacy-Aware)Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility Health Services & Policy Research Knowledge Mobilization & Implementation Patient-Oriented Research / Pwlle Engagement

Latest papers

AI for predicting exacerbations in KIDs with asthma (AIRE-KIDS).
NPJ digital medicine · 2026
Sample size calculation for training ensemble machine learning models on health data.
Patterns (New York, N.Y.) · 2026 · senior author
An Evaluation of Pretrained Generative Models for Augmenting Small Health Data: Comparative Modeling Study.
Journal of medical Internet research · 2026 · senior author

All 78 publications

Latest funding

Partnering with Patients to Co-Produce a National AI Priority Agenda for Chronic Pain
CIHR · 2025 · Principal investigator
$125,000
Advanced Theory and Methods for Evaluating the Utility and Privacy Risks of Synthetic Health Data
NSERC · 2022 · Principal investigator
$72,000
A living evidence approach to variants of concern (VOC) and COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness
CIHR · 2021 · Co-investigator
$475,940

All 16 grants and awards

78 publications.

01

AI for predicting exacerbations in KIDs with asthma (AIRE-KIDS).

Ooi HL, Mitsakakis N, Dastarac MH, Zemek R, Plint AC, Gilchrist J, El Emam K, Radhakrishnan D

NPJ digital medicine2026

DOI: 10.1038/s41746-026-02824-x PMID: 42225895

02

Sample size calculation for training ensemble machine learning models on health data.

Mitsakakis N, Liu D, Walters T, El Emam K

Patterns (New York, N.Y.)2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2026.101498 PMID: 42328195

03

An Evaluation of Pretrained Generative Models for Augmenting Small Health Data: Comparative Modeling Study.

Huet-Dastarac M, Dankar FK, Liu D, El Kababji S, Pilgram L, El Emam K

Journal of medical Internet research2026Senior author

DOI: 10.2196/88678 PMID: 42296511

04

Applying Machine Learning to Predict Complex Clinical Course in Youth With Eating Disorders.

Ryall S, Bradley A, El Emam K, Obeid N

The International journal of eating disorders2026

DOI: 10.1002/eat.24570 PMID: 41078229

05

Transfer Learning and Machine Learning for Training Five-Year Survival Prognostic Models in Early Breast Cancer: Development and Validation Study

Pilgram L, Yang K, Beltran-Bless A-A, Pond GR, Vandermeer L, Hilton J, Savard M-F, LeBlanc A, Shepherd L, Chen B

Journal of Medical Internet Research20261 citationsSenior author

DOI: 10.2196/88665

06

Prognostic and predictive performance of PREDICT 2.1, PREDICT v3, and RSClin in node-negative early breast cancer: a TEAM pathology substudy

Leblanc A, Beltran-Bless A-A, Pond GR, El Emam K, Juwara L, Clemons L, Bayani J, Pilgram L, Pharoah P, Mallon E

Breast Cancer Research and Treatment20261 citations

DOI: 10.1007/s10549-026-07909-5

07

An assessment of synthetic data generation, use and disclosure under Canadian privacy regulations.

Pilgram L, Fineberg A, Jonker E, El Emam K

AI and ethics2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1007/s43681-025-00819-0 PMID: 41209330

08

Crossing borders securely: synthetic data and federated networks for privacy-preserving access to real-world data and emerging use cases.

Wang EH, Myles P, Foraker R, Toh S, Mosquera L, El Emam K, Burcu M

NPJ digital medicine2025

DOI: 10.1038/s41746-025-02126-8 PMID: 41398377

09

Should we synthesize more than we need: impact of synthetic data generation for high-dimensional cross-sectional medical data.

Pilgram L, El Kababji S, Liu D, El Emam K

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocaf169 PMID: 41069048

10

Protecting patient privacy in tabular synthetic health data: a regulatory perspective.

Pilgram L, Ko H, Tung A, El Emam K

NPJ digital medicine2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41746-025-02112-0 PMID: 41315669

Partnering with Patients to Co-Produce a National AI Priority Agenda for Chronic Pain

Principal investigatorCIHR2025Catalyst Grant: Partnering for Impact - Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research

Principal investigators: Radhakrishnan, Arun K; Daly-Cyr, Jennifer; Haaland, Kevin; Mamdani, Muhammad; McIntyre, Virginia; Bosma, Rachael L; El Emam, Khaled; Poulin, Patricia A; Rash, Josh A

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence In Health (Direct-To-Consumer Tools); Chronic Pain; Co-Design / Co-Production Partnerships; Digital Health Policy & Governance (Privacy-Aware); Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility; Health Services & Policy Research; Knowledge Mobilization & Implementation; Patient-Oriented Research / Pwlle Engagement; Primary Care; Priority Setting (James Lind Alliance Approach)

$125,000

Advanced Theory and Methods for Evaluating the Utility and Privacy Risks of Synthetic Health Data

Principal investigatorNSERC2022Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: El Emam, Khaled

$72,000

A living evidence approach to variants of concern (VOC) and COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness

Co-investigatorCIHR2021Op. Gr.:Emerging COVID-19 Res. Gaps & Priorities (July 2021) - Immune Responses

Principal investigators: Little, Julian; Iorio, Alfonso

Keywords: Covid-19; Epidemiology; Immunology; Living Evidence Synthesis; Sars-Cov-2; Vaccination; Variants Of Concern

$475,940

Canada Research Chairs - Tier 1

Nominated PICIHR2020Canada Research Chairs - CIHR Funded - Tier 1

Principal investigators: El Emam, Khaled

Keywords: Crc

$1,400,000

Advanced theory and methods for the de-identification of small cohorts, complex and composed health data

Principal investigatorNSERC2016Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: ElEmam, Khaled

$186,000

The cancer genome collaboratory

Co-investigatorCIHR2013Operating Grant: Discovery Frontiers - LOI

Principal investigators: Stein, Lincoln

Keywords: Bioethics; Biostatistics; Cancer; Cloud Computing; Computational Biology; Computer Science; Genomics; Machine Learning

$24,991

The Cancer Genome Collaboratory

Co-investigatorCIHR2013Operating Grant: Discovery Frontiers

Principal investigators: Stein, Lincoln

Keywords: Bioinformatics; Cancer; Cloud Computing; Genomics; Protection Of Patient Privacy

$900,000

The cancer genome collaboratory

Co-investigatorNSERC2013Discovery Frontiers - Advancing Big Data Science in Genomics Research

Principal investigators: Stein, Lincoln

$3,099,861

Metrics and methods for the de-identification of health information

Principal investigatorNSERC2011Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: ElEmam, Khaled

$145,000

A Method for the Secure Computation of Statistics on Health Records

Nominated PICIHR2011Operating Grant

Principal investigators: El Emam, Khaled

Keywords: Data Sharing; Privacy; Secondary Use; Secure Computation

$172,462

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Department of Medicine
Family Medicine
Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact
Pediatrics
Oncology
Cardiology
Clinical Epidemiology
Other

1 shared papers, latest 2018

Write to this professor

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Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2025

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Artificial Intelligence In Health (Direct-To-Consumer Tools) Dear Professor El Emam, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "AI for predicting exacerbations in KIDs with asthma (AIRE-KIDS)." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "Partnering with Patients to Co-Produce a National AI Priority Agenda for Chronic Pain" (2025), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]