Portrait of Samira Abbasgholizadeh-Rahimi

Samira Abbasgholizadeh-Rahimi

samira.rahimi@mila.quebec
Assistant Professor, McGill University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Topics
Knowledge Graphs
Medical Machine Learning
Natural Language Processing
Website
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Biography

Samira Abbasgholizadeh-Rahimi (BEng, PhD) is the Canada Research Chair in Advanced Digital Primary Health Care, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University and an associate academic member at Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute.

Rahimi is an affiliated scientist at Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at the Jewish General Hospital, the elected president of the Canadian Operational Research Society, and director of Artificial Intelligence in Family Medicine (AIFM).

Drawing on her interdisciplinary background, her research focuses on the development and implementation of advanced digital health technologies, such as AI-enabled decision support tools, in primary health care. Her research is dedicated to enhancing the prevention and management of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, with a particular emphasis on vulnerable populations.

Rahimi‘s work as a principal investigator has been funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Roche Canada, the Brocher Foundation (Switzerland), and the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2022 New Investigator Primary Care Research Award of North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG), which recognizes exceptional contributions by emerging investigators in the field of primary care research.

Current Students

Sydney Keyamo
Master's Research - McGill University
Shayan nejadshamsi
Research Intern - McGill University
Haowei Qiu
Professional Master's - McGill University
Gauri Sharma
Master's Research - McGill University
Principal supervisor :
AJung Moon
Github
Google Scholar
Chetan Shirvankar
PhD - McGill University
chetan.shirvankar@mila.quebec

Publications

Desirable features in a decision aid for prenatal screening – what do pregnant women and their partners think? A mixed methods pilot study
Titilayo Tatiana Agbadje
Samira Abbasgholizadeh-Rahimi
Mélissa Côté
Andrée-Anne Tremblay
Mariama Penda Diallo
Hélène Elidor
Alex Poulin Herron
Codjo Djignefa Djade
France Légaré
Background To help pregnant women and their partners make informed value-congruent decisions about Down syndrome prenatal screening, our te… (see more)am developed two successive versions of a decision aid (DAv2017 and DAv2014). We aimed to assess pregnant women and their partners’ perceptions of the usefulness of the two DAs for preparing for decision making, their relative acceptability and their most desirable features. Methods This is a mixed methods pilot study. We recruited participants of study (women and their partners) when consulting for prenatal care in three clinical sites in Quebec City. To be eligible, women had to: (a) be at least 18 years old; (b) be more than 16 weeks pregnant; or having given birth in the previous year and (c) be able to speak and write in French or English. Both women and partners were invited to give their informed consent. We collected quantitative data on the usefulness of the DAs for preparing for decision making and their relative acceptability. We developed an interview grid based on the Technology Acceptance Model and Acceptability questionnaire to explore their perceptions of the most desirable features. We performed descriptive statistics and deductive analysis. Results Overall, 23 couples and 16 individual women participated in the study. The majority of participants were between 25 and 34 years old (79% of women and 59% of partners) and highly educated (66.7% of women and 54% of partners had a university-level education). DAv2017 scored higher for usefulness for preparing for decision making (86.2 ± 13 out of 100 for DAv2017 and 77.7 ± 14 for DAv2014). For most dimensions, DAv2017 was more acceptable than DAv2014 (e.g. the amount of information was found “just right” by 80% of participants for DAv2017 against 56% for DAv2014). However, participants preferred the presentation and the values clarification exercise of DAv2014. In their opinion, neither DA presented information in a completely balanced manner. They suggested adding more information about raising Down syndrome children, replacing frequencies with percentages, different values clarification methods, and a section for the partner. Conclusions A new user-centered version of the prenatal screening DA will integrate participants’ suggestions to reflect end users’ priorities.
2020-05-08
(published)
doi.org
Suitable e-Health Solutions for Older Adults with Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: Perceptions of Health and Social Care Providers in Quebec City
Marie-Pierre Gagnon
Mame Ndiaye
Mylène Boucher
Samantha Dequanter
Ronald Buyl
Ellen Gorus
Anne Bourbonnais
Anik Giguère
Samira Abbasgholizadeh-Rahimi
: e-Health solutions offer a potential to improve the quality of life and safety of older adults with dementia or mild cognitive impairment … (see more)(MCI). In making better decisions for using eHealth technologies, health professionals should be aware and well informed about existing tools. Recent research shows the lack of knowledge on these technologies for older adults with dementia. In Quebec, current market offer for these technologies is supply-based, and not need-based. This study is part of a larger project and aims to understand the perceptions and needs of health and social care providers regarding e-health technologies for older adults with dementia or MCI. One focus group was carried out with six health and social care professionals at the St-Sacrement Hospital in Quebec City, Canada. The focus group enquired about the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with older adults with cognitive impairment. Relevant examples of ICTs were presented to assess their knowledge level. The discussion was tape-recorded and transcripts were coded using the Nvivo software. Results revealed that aside from fall safety technologies, there is a lack of knowledge about other e-Health technologies for this population. Respondents acknowledged the value of ICTs and were willing to recommend some of them. Economic reasons, blind trust on ICTs and lack of confidence in patients’ capacity to use the solutions were the major limitations identified.
2020-05-03
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (published)
doi.org