Dr. Barbera is nationally and internationally recognized health services researcher. In 2018 she moved to Calgary to become the Head of Radiation Oncology at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the University of Calgary. She also Chairs the Radiation Medicine Operations Committee, and Co-Chairs the Patient Reported Measurement Advisory Council for Cancer Care Alberta. Her academic areas of interest include health services research, quality of care and patient reported outcomes and symptom management. She has published extensively on health service use at the end of life in cancer patients. She has also done extensive work using a unique patient reported symptom dataset in Ontario. As the former lead of Cancer Care Ontario’s Patient Reported Outcome Program she has considerable knowledge and experience with using patient reported outcomes in routine care. Her active clinical practice is in breast cancer. She also has years of experience treating gynecologic malignancies. Dr. Barbera has previously received funding as a Principal Investigator from CIHR, CCSRI, OICR and ARCC and has over 150 peer-reviewed publications.
Area of Focus
- Health services research
- Quality of care
- Symptom management
- Patient experience
- Patient reported outcomes in clinical care
Summary of Research
Dr. Barbera’s main area of interest is health services research in cancer. Her primary expertise is in using large administrative health datasets to study health care service use. For example, Dr. Barbera has used these methods to study the quality of end of life care at a population level. She has studied these services extensively in Ontario as well as in multi-province comparison studies. She has use also linked administrative health care data to evaluate health service use by women with breast cancer.
Dr. Barbera has spent the last several years evaluating the impact of capturing patient-reported outcomes routinely in clinic, on health service use at a population level. She has used linked administrative data to describe symptom burden and symptom trajectories in cancer patients at a population level. She currently leads the Person Centred Radiation Oncology Service Enhancement Program (PROSE) which is directed at improving patient experience and the quality of care for patients treated with radiation at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
Dr. Barbera’s clinical expertise is radiation therapy for breast and gynecologic cancers. She is also interested in sexual health after treatment for cancer. She chaired the Program in Evidence-Based Care Working Group, which created a guideline addressing sexual function in cancer survivors.
Area Of Focus
- Health services research
- Quality of care
- Symptom management
- Patient experience
- Patient reported outcomes in clinical care
Summary Of Research
Dr. Barbera’s main area of interest is health services research in cancer. Her primary expertise is in using large administrative health datasets to study health care service use. For example, Dr. Barbera has used these methods to study the quality of end of life care at a population level. She has studied these services extensively in Ontario as well as in multi-province comparison studies. She has use also linked administrative health care data to evaluate health service use by women with breast cancer.
Dr. Barbera has spent the last several years evaluating the impact of capturing patient-reported outcomes routinely in clinic, on health service use at a population level. She has used linked administrative data to describe symptom burden and symptom trajectories in cancer patients at a population level. She currently leads the Person Centred Radiation Oncology Service Enhancement Program (PROSE) which is directed at improving patient experience and the quality of care for patients treated with radiation at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
Dr. Barbera’s clinical expertise is radiation therapy for breast and gynecologic cancers. She is also interested in sexual health after treatment for cancer. She chaired the Program in Evidence-Based Care Working Group, which created a guideline addressing sexual function in cancer survivors.