Established in 1998, the Health Outcomes and PharmacoEconomics (HOPE) Research Centre is an academic research group that focuses on the design, development and execution of economic analyses.
Members of the HOPE Research Centre work with regional, national and international clinical experts to provide expertise on disease management, drug/resource utilization projects, Real-World Evidence and costing studies. Our activities include the following:
- We develop formal economic evaluations and address methodological questions for a large variety of disease areas (e.g., oncology, infectious diseases, cardiovascular, etc.)
- We are experts in Real-World Evidence (RWE) and administrative database studies across a number of clinical areas
- We have extensive experience in medical writing, with a large list of peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.
The HOPE Research Centre also trains undergraduate students, and participates in internship and studentship mentoring programs.
The HOPE Research Centre provides support across all areas of research, from the development of research questions and planning, comprehensive study coordination, to knowledge translation. We provide consulting services to industry partners and grant support to academics and physicians.
Research expertise
We specialize in a variety of economic studies across all therapeutic areas for different types of interventions, including medications, devices and programs. We conduct:
- large-scale prospective studies
- BIA and HTA submissions
- comprehensive multi-site chart reviews
- surveys and quality of life studies
- decision analytic modelling
- health preference determination
- lost productivity studies
- medical writing published in peer reviewed journals, or abstract presentations at conferences
Real-World evidence
Since 2017, the HOPE Research Centre has focused on studies using Real-World Evidence (RWE) in order to identify population-level disease cohorts and answer relevant and timely study questions that impact health systems. Areas of RWE focus include:
- incidence and prevalence of cohorts
- cohort demographics and characteristics
- real-world treatment patterns and survival outcomes
- resource utilization and health system costs
Clinical areas of research
We have extensive experience across different clinical areas of research:
- oncology
- neurology
- HIV
- adverse drug reactions
- critical care
- dermatology
- rare diseases
- methodology to advance economic evaluations
- economic guideline development
Analyses
We bring our scientific expertise and experience to determine the most effective type of analysis to answer research queries from our partners. Our analyses include:
- formal economic evaluations (e.g., cost-effectiveness analyses, cost-minimization analyses)
- cost-of-illness studies
- RWE studies
- custom studies
- literature reviews
Publications
- Mittmann N, Seung SJ, Ante Z, Liu N, Yong JH, Yusuf A, Chiarelli AC, Earle CC. Updated breast cancer costs for women by disease stage and phase of care using population-based databases. Health Rep 2024 Nov 20; 35(11): 3-11.
- Seung SJ, Saherawala H, Kim Y, Tieu J, Wang S, Shephard C, Bosse D. Real-world treatment patterns, clinical outcomes, healthcare resource utilization, and costs in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in Ontario, Canada. Cancers 2024 Jun 15, 16 (12), 2232.
- Moldaver D, Hassan S, Seung, SJ, Syed I, Shanahan MK, Liu G. Real-world treatment patterns and survival among patients with stage I-III, non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer receiving surgery as primary treatment. Oncol Ther 2024 (published online March 14, 2024).
- Seung SJ, Saherawala H, Nguyen L, Gatley JM, Liu N, Kebabdjian M, Earle C, Klotz L, Mittmann N. Hospital Encounters and Associated Costs of the Prostate Evaluation for Clinically Important Disease: MRI vs Standard Evaluation Procedures (PRECISE) Study from a Provincial-Payer Perspective. Canadian Urologic Association Journal. 2023 Aug;17(8): 280-284.
- Mittmann N, Seung SJ, Diong C, Gatley JM, Wolfson M, Guertin MH, Pashayan N, Simard J, Chiarelli AM. Using Real-World Data to Determine Health System Costs of Ontario Women Screened for Breast Cancer. Current Oncology. 2022 October; 29: 8330–8339. (10.3390/curroncol29110657).
- Pope JE, Quansah K, Hassan S, Seung SJ, Flavin J, Kolb M. Systemic Sclerosis and Associated Interstitial Lung Disease in Ontario, Canada: An Examination of Prevalence and Survival Over 10 Years. Journal of Rheumatology. 2021 Sept; 48(9): 1427-1434 (10.3899/jrheum.201049).
- Seung SJ, Hurry M, Walton RN, Evans WK. Real world treatment patterns and survival of stage IV non-small cell lung cancer in Canada. Current Oncology. 2020 Aug; 27(4): e361–e367.
- Hassan S, Seung SJ, Clark R, Gibbs JC, McArthur C, Mittmann N, Thabane L, Kendler D, Papaioannou A, Wark JD, Ashe MC, Adachi JD, Templeton JA, Giangregorio LM. Describing the resource utilization and costs associated with vertebral fractures: The Build Better Bones with Exercise (B3E) Pilot Trial”. Osteoporosis International.2020 Mar 26; 1-9 (10.1007/s00198-020-05387-z).
- SeungSJ, Gunjal S, Simbulan F et al. Real-world treatment patterns, patient characteristics, healthcare resource utilization and costs for intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma patients in Canada: a retrospective cohort study using provincial administrative data. ISPOR. May 13-15, 2025 (poster accepted).
- Seung SJ, Moldaver D, Hassan S, et al. Cost of patients with stage I-III, nonsquamous, non–small cell lung cancer receiving surgery as primary treatment. Canadian Journal of Health Technologies. Dec 2024: 4 (12), 17.
- SeungSJ, SaherawalaH, NguyenL et al. Economic analysis of the PRONTO study. ISPOR Europe; Nov 13-15, 2023. EE234.
- Seung SJ, Saherawala H, Zagorski B, Tong C, Lim H, Kim P, Marquez V, Gill S, Liu D, Davies J. Examining the treatment journey of patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma using retrospective real-world data in British Columbia, Canada. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting; June 2-6, 2023 (poster).
- Saherawala H, Seung SJ, McKee H, Obetta C, Alhusayen R. Defining the Spectrum of Inflammatory Arthropathies in Hidradenitis Suppurativa (DSIAH). Canadian Association for Population Therapeutics; October 17-18, 2022 (poster).
All of the HOPE Research Centre’s peer-reviewed publications can be accessed on Google Scholar.
Download the full list of the HOPE Research Centre’s peer-reviewed abstracts.