Information

Related Research Units

Computational Health Informatics Program Research

Research Overview

Dr. Ong is a biomedical informatician with a multidisciplinary background in computer science, biomedical engineering, epidemiology, patient safety, pediatric health, and health disparities research. Her research develops and applies computational approaches to inform evidence-based practice in children with chronic diseases. Through epidemiological studies as well as application of state-of-the-art machine learning methods, her scholarly work has contributed to advancing understanding of the causative patterns and health outcomes of pediatric diseases, ranging from more common conditions (e.g., asthma, epilepsy, mental health disorders, post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, inflammatory bowel disease) to rare diseases (including pediatric pulmonary hypertension, childhood rheumatic diseases, inborn errors of immunity).

Much of her research effort is directed to addressing disparities in health outcomes among underserved populations. Her work further applies computational approaches to study the underlying causes and patterns of medical errors, with a focus on diagnostic errors. She was one of 10 inaugural Scholars of Diagnostic Excellence at the National Academy of Medicine, and has led and contributed to a number of studies aimed at improving the diagnosis of rare diseases. She is one of four founding members of the New England Primary Immunodeficiency Consortium – an initiative aimed at establishing research collaboration in primary immunodeficiency research.

As Chief Clinical Informatics for the consortium, she has helped create a multi-site EHR data resource to catalyze primary immunodeficiency research. Dr. Ong’s research has been funded by the NIH, PCORI, various foundations, and industry.

Research Background

Dr. Ong received her PhD from the University of New South Wales in Australia. She undertook postdoctoral fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital in the Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP). In 2017, she became a faculty member at the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and was appointed Assistant Professor in 2018 and Associate Professor in 2024. In 2025, Dr. Ong rejoined CHIP as a faculty member.

Publications

  1. Common Variable Immunodeficiency Clinical Manifestations Are Shaped by Presence and Type of Heterozygous NFKB1 Variants. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2024 Dec 11. View Abstract
  2. Disparities in Genetic Testing for Inborn Errors of Immunity. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2024 Nov 22. View Abstract
  3. Using machine learning to identify pediatric ophthalmologists. J AAPOS. 2024 Nov 19; 104052. View Abstract
  4. Association of CD19+-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with hypogammaglobulinemia, infection, and mortality. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Nov 04. View Abstract
  5. Experiences with diagnostic delay among underserved racial and ethnic patients: a systematic review of the qualitative literature. BMJ Qual Saf. 2024 Nov 04. View Abstract
  6. Racial and ethnic representation of youth in type 1 diabetes interventional trials. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Nov; 146:107703. View Abstract
  7. A Cross-Sectional Study of Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Predominantly Antibody Deficiency. J Clin Immunol. 2024 08 07; 44(8):173. View Abstract
  8. Enrollment of underserved racial and ethnic populations in pediatric asthma clinical trials. J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob. 2024 Nov; 3(4):100315. View Abstract
  9. A Cross-Sectional Study of Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Predominantly Antibody Deficiency. Res Sq. 2024 Jul 18. View Abstract
  10. Which pediatric practices use substance use consultation services? Front Pediatr. 2024; 12:1337944. View Abstract
  11. Machine Learning Prediction of Treatment Response to Inhaled Corticosteroids in Asthma. J Pers Med. 2024 Feb 25; 14(3). View Abstract
  12. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine response in adults with predominantly antibody deficiency. J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob. 2024 May; 3(2):100234. View Abstract
  13. Enrollment of Pediatric Patients in COVID-19 Interventional Trials. JAMA Health Forum. 2023 Nov 03; 4(11):e233939. View Abstract
  14. Racial and ethnic disparities in early mortality among patients with inborn errors of immunity. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 01; 153(1):335-340.e1. View Abstract
  15. Association of inborn errors of immunity with severe COVID-19 and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2023 08; 11(8):2616-2617.e2. View Abstract
  16. Disease Progression of WHIM Syndrome in an International Cohort of 66 Pediatric and Adult Patients. J Clin Immunol. 2022 11; 42(8):1748-1765. View Abstract
  17. New-onset hypogammaglobulinaemia and infectious complications associated with rituximab use in childhood-onset rheumatic diseases. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022 04 11; 61(4):1610-1620. View Abstract
  18. The importance of rigorous methods in observational comparative effectiveness studies of rare diseases: comment on the article by Ruperto et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2022 05; 74(5):912-913. View Abstract
  19. Multiomics analysis identifies BIRC3 as a novel glucocorticoid response-associated gene. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2022 06; 149(6):1981-1991. View Abstract
  20. Improved Disease Course Associated With Early Initiation of Biologics in Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Trajectory Analysis of a Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance Consensus Treatment Plans Study. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 10; 73(10):1910-1920. View Abstract
  21. Rituximab-induced hypogammaglobulinemia and infection risk in pediatric patients. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 08; 148(2):523-532.e8. View Abstract
  22. Geographical Distribution, Incidence, Malignancies, and Outcome of 136 Eastern Slavic Patients With Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome and NBN Founder Variant c.657_661del5. Front Immunol. 2020; 11:602482. View Abstract
  23. Socioeconomic status and survival in patients with pulmonary hypertension. ERJ Open Res. 2020 Oct; 6(4). View Abstract
  24. Claims-Based Algorithms for Identifying Patients With Pulmonary Hypertension: A Comparison of Decision Rules and Machine-Learning Approaches. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020 10 20; 9(19):e016648. View Abstract
  25. Urban-Rural Disparities in Pulmonary Hypertension Mortality. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2020 09; 17(9):1168-1171. View Abstract
  26. Risk factors for suicide attempt in children, adolescents, and young adults hospitalized for mental health disorders. Child Adolesc Ment Health. 2021 05; 26(2):134-142. View Abstract
  27. Gastrointestinal manifestations in common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) are associated with an altered immunophenotype including B- and T-cell dysregulation. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2020 04; 8(4):1436-1438.e1. View Abstract
  28. Rising Prevalence of Comorbid Alcohol and Opioid Use Disorders in Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 10; 34(10):1987-1989. View Abstract
  29. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension: An Analysis of the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Network Registry. J Pediatr. 2019 08; 211:63-71.e6. View Abstract
  30. A Bayesian Network Approach to Disease Subtype Discovery. Methods Mol Biol. 2019; 1939:299-322. View Abstract
  31. Association of Immunoglobulin Levels, Infectious Risk, and Mortality With Rituximab and Hypogammaglobulinemia. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 11 02; 1(7):e184169. View Abstract
  32. Delay in reviewing test results prolongs hospital length of stay: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018 05 16; 18(1):369. View Abstract
  33. Common Variable Immunodeficiency Non-Infectious Disease Endotypes Redefined Using Unbiased Network Clustering in Large Electronic Datasets. Front Immunol. 2017; 8:1740. View Abstract
  34. Learning a Comorbidity-Driven Taxonomy of Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension. Circ Res. 2017 Aug 04; 121(4):341-353. View Abstract
  35. Conclusions in systematic reviews of mammography for breast cancer screening and associations with review design and author characteristics. Syst Rev. 2017 05 22; 6(1):105. View Abstract
  36. Trends in Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening and Prostate Cancer Interventions 3 Years After the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation. Ann Intern Med. 2017 03 21; 166(6):451-452. View Abstract
  37. The Impact of Provider Networks on the Co-Prescriptions of Interacting Drugs: A Claims-Based Analysis. Drug Saf. 2017 03; 40(3):263-272. View Abstract
  38. Trends in Pharmacologic Interventions for Preventing Recurrence of Crohn's Disease After Ileocolonic Surgery. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2016 10; 22(10):2432-41. View Abstract
  39. Erratum to: Provider patient-sharing networks and multiple-provider prescribing of benzodiazepines. J Gen Intern Med. 2016 May; 31(5):588. View Abstract
  40. Viral genome imaging of hepatitis C virus to probe heterogeneous viral infection and responses to antiviral therapies. Virology. 2016 07; 494:236-47. View Abstract
  41. Mammography Risks: The Authors Reply. Health Aff (Millwood). 2016 Mar; 35(3):552. View Abstract
  42. New Guidelines For Breast Cancer Screening. Health Aff (Millwood). 2016 Jan; 35(1):180. View Abstract
  43. Health IT for Patient Safety and Improving the Safety of Health IT. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2016; 222:25-36. View Abstract
  44. Measuring the effects of computer downtime on hospital pathology processes. J Biomed Inform. 2016 Feb; 59:308-15. View Abstract
  45. A Review on the Bioinformatics Tools for Neuroimaging. Malays J Med Sci. 2015 Dec; 22(Spec Issue):9-19. View Abstract
  46. Provider Patient-Sharing Networks and Multiple-Provider Prescribing of Benzodiazepines. J Gen Intern Med. 2016 Feb; 31(2):164-171. View Abstract
  47. Breast Cancer Diagnoses: The Authors Reply. Health Aff (Millwood). 2015 Jul; 34(7):1253. View Abstract
  48. National expenditure for false-positive mammograms and breast cancer overdiagnoses estimated at $4 billion a year. Health Aff (Millwood). 2015 Apr; 34(4):576-83. View Abstract
  49. Clinical safety of England's national programme for IT: a retrospective analysis of all reported safety events 2005 to 2011. Int J Med Inform. 2015 Mar; 84(3):198-206. View Abstract
  50. Using social connection information to improve opinion mining: Identifying negative sentiment about HPV vaccines on Twitter. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2015; 216:761-5. View Abstract
  51. Population-level evidence for an autoimmune etiology of epilepsy. JAMA Neurol. 2014 May; 71(5):569-74. View Abstract
  52. Consequences of antibiotics and infections in infancy: bugs, drugs, and wheezing. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2014 May; 112(5):441-445.e1. View Abstract
  53. Communication interventions to improve adherence to infection control precautions: a randomised crossover trial. BMC Infect Dis. 2013 Feb 06; 13:72. View Abstract
  54. Syndromic surveillance for health information system failures: a feasibility study. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2013 May 01; 20(3):506-12. View Abstract
  55. Last Orders: Follow-up of Tests Ordered on the Day of Hospital Discharge. Arch Intern Med. 2012 Sep 24; 172(17):1347-9. View Abstract
  56. Let's Just Check That Potassium One More Time . . . : Comment on "Last Orders: Follow-up of Tests Ordered on the Day of Hospital Discharge". Arch Intern Med. 2012 Sep 24; 172(17):1344-53. View Abstract
  57. Automated identification of extreme-risk events in clinical incident reports. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2012 Jun; 19(e1):e110-8. View Abstract
  58. Patient safety problems associated with heathcare information technology: an analysis of adverse events reported to the US Food and Drug Administration. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2011; 2011:853-7. View Abstract
  59. Evaluating the effectiveness of clinical alerts: a signal detection approach. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2011; 2011:1036-44. View Abstract
  60. Using FDA reports to inform a classification for health information technology safety problems. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2012 Jan-Feb; 19(1):45-53. View Abstract
  61. A systematic review of failures in handoff communication during intrahospital transfers. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2011 Jun; 37(6):274-84. View Abstract
  62. A simulation framework for mapping risks in clinical processes: the case of in-patient transfers. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2011 May 01; 18(3):259-66. View Abstract
  63. An analysis of computer-related patient safety incidents to inform the development of a classification. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2010 Nov-Dec; 17(6):663-70. View Abstract
  64. Automated categorisation of clinical incident reports using statistical text classification. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010 Dec; 19(6):e55. View Abstract
  65. Safety through redundancy: a case study of in-hospital patient transfers. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010 Oct; 19(5):e32. View Abstract
  66. Low serum folate and vitamin B-6 are associated with an altered cancellous bone structure in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Nov; 90(5):1440-5. View Abstract

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