Professor Michael Wolfson
Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine
Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa

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The use of micro-simulation modeling in population health research has raised the bar for understanding the types, depth, extent and impacts of the results that such research has become capable of generating. These results have served to provide better support for risk management decision-making  through detailed information on the efficiency and cost-benefit of the proposed intervention(s), testing these interventions for potential health and/or economic impacts, and serving as a tool to compare between different interventions with similar targets. Micro-simulation modeling affords the opportunity for studying the possible effects of an intervention on single individuals rather than groups of individuals. Micro-simulation considers and compares inter-individual differences among as many variables as possible, which cannot be attained through the more expensive, time consuming, and limited size clinical trials, or other aggregate modelling techniques.