Dr. M. Ehsan Karim is an Associate Professor in Health Data Science in the
School of Population and Public Health at
The University of British Columbia, a Scientist at the
Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes (St. Paul’s Hospital), and an Associate Member of
UBC Statistics. He was a
Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar (2018–2023).
He obtained his Ph.D. in Statistics from
UBC, supported by a studentship from
MS Canada. He completed his postgraduate training at
McGill University with a fellowship from the
Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES).
His research program focuses on developing and applying causal inference and data science methods to answer real-world comparative effectiveness questions using nonrandomized data. A central theme is the analysis of large health administrative databases, advancing state-of-the-art biostatistical and epidemiological methods to generate reliable real-world evidence. Multiple sclerosis is a key application area for his work. His
research is supported by grants from
CIHR,
NSERC,
MS Canada, and the
BC SUPPORT Unit.
A dedicated educator and mentor, Dr. Karim supervises students in both
SPPH and
Statistics. He developed and teaches the PhD capstone course SPPH 604, and authored the open-access
Advanced Epidemiological Methods textbook. He was named a
UBC Open Educational Resources (OER) Champion for 2024–2025.
Dr. Karim serves as an Associate Editor for
Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety and is a regular grant reviewer for national funding bodies. His contributions have been recognized with the Author Service Award (BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2025), Exemplary Reviewer (Epidemiology, 2020), and Best Reviewer (Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 2015 & 2017).
Dr. M. Ehsan Karim
Education
Research
Dr. Karim’s
research focuses on developing and applying causal inference and data science methods to address real-world comparative effectiveness questions using nonrandomized data.
His program emphasizes:
- Advanced biostatistical and epidemiological methods for large health administrative databases
- Improving reliability of real-world evidence generation
- Applications to multiple sclerosis
His research is funded by CIHR, NSERC, MS Canada, and BC SUPPORT Unit.
Teaching
A dedicated educator and mentor, Dr. Karim supervises students in both
SPPH and
Statistics.
Service
Dr. Karim contributes actively to academic service:
- Associate Editor,
Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
- Grant Reviewer, national funding agencies
- Awards and Recognition:
- Author Service Award, BMC Medical Research Methodology (2025)
- Exemplary Reviewer, Epidemiology (2020)
- Best Reviewer, Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety (2015, 2017)