Using advanced analytical tools and data, Dr. Emily Walker and her team help predict future cancer care needs in Alberta.
By Keri Sweetman
Photographs by Ryan Parker
Dr. Emily Walker and her team are revolutionizing how health-care data is used to inform the development of a better cancer care system in Alberta, ensuring timely access for new patients and high-quality care for the growing number of people living long term with cancer.
Walker leads the Precision Analytics team for Cancer Care Alberta, the provincial organization (under Alberta Health Services) that provides treatment, support and services to people living with cancer. The team uses advanced analytical techniques to leverage Alberta’s extensive data resources to predict future cancer care needs in the province and help inform new models of care.
“In the past 10 to 20 years, we have seen an enormous shift in the cancer care landscape thanks to cutting-edge research and the proliferation of precision medicine and other advances,” says Walker, who is an epidemiologist, which means she investigates the distribution and determinants of cancer in populations to develop strategies for prevention and control. “There’s a lot more technologies, a lot more options for treating people. And that’s translating into a longer survival time for a lot of people who are diagnosed with cancer.”
Obviously, that’s a good thing, but it presents some challenges for service delivery, says Walker. Cancer care leaders have to plan how to properly manage the growing cohort of follow-up patients who are living with cancer and deliver timely care to the newly diagnosed, whose numbers are growing as Alberta’s population swells.
To plan properly, they need data-based evidence, which is where Walker’s team comes in.
In addition to Walker, the team currently consists of three senior scientists, including two other epidemiologists and a machine-learning engineer. They’ve also partnered with AltaML, a private tech company that brings more machine-learning specialists and programmers to the table to perform advanced analytics. Machine learning is a subfield of artificial intelligence where computers use algorithms to derive accurate insights from large volumes of data.
The Right Fit
Walker obtained a PhD in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Alberta in 2017. She grew up in Toronto and did her undergraduate studies in biological anthropology and health studies (with a minor in piano performance) at McMaster University, before coming west in 2010 for her MSc in epidemiology.
“[Epidemiology] just fits with me as a person,” she says. “I’m a very analytical person and I like solving mysteries, problem- solving, digging into things.”
Following her PhD studies, which focused on the high incidence of a bacterial infection called Helicobacter pylori in Canada’s North, Walker worked as a research associate with the Canadian Brain Tumour Registry of Canada. Then the pandemic hit, and she decided she needed a change of direction.
“I just had this urge to be doing more, working for the system and applying my skills to affect change.” She moved to Cancer Care Alberta in 2020, working with the Cancer Research and Analytics group. “The pandemic really highlighted how valuable data can be for the health system and how much we could potentially leverage it in order to make better decisions for the health system.”
Alberta’s Health Data is Unmatched in Canada
Alberta is the best place for Walker to put her love of numbers to work. No other province has such an interconnected health data system. Alberta’s Connect Care is a unified electronic health record system, which started in 2019. More health sites and programs are moving onto this provincial electronic medical record system through a series of phased launches. Cancer Care Alberta joined Connect Care in November 2022.
This unified system has combined with other cancer data sources, creating a comprehensive pipeline of up-to-date data. “This sets the stage for some of the more advanced analytics that we want to do,” says Walker. Machine learning allows the team to capture intricate patterns in the data to create new models of cancer care and develop better predictions for future needs.
“We are looking at how we can generate tools and evidence that will ultimately be used in making decisions about allocating resources around the province, what types of specialists are needed where and what types of resources are needed where. It’s really cool and exciting,” says Walker, who, alongside her busy career, is raising three young boys with her husband. She is honoured to have been nominated for an Alberta Innovates Digital Health Innovation Award this year, and is looking forward to a long career helping improve cancer care for Albertans.
“I feel very passionate about it,” she says. “There’s so much we can do here to affect change in the health system. We have such a wealth of data and we can really revolutionize how we’re using it to improve the system.”
