Tim Watkins

Research Fellow

Dr Tim Watkins is a Research Fellow and Biostatistician in the Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN). He joined in 2019 after completing a Master of Biostatistics (University of Sydney and the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia), and a PhD in Biostatistics (University of Sydney and The George Institute for Global Health), focusing on the concepts of causal inference, research bias, and uncertainty in health intervention research.

At 3DN, Tim has used linked administrative health data to examine topics including the movement of people under 65 from hospital to residential aged care, emergency department readmissions for people with intellectual disability and epilepsy, and uncommon forms of dementia. He is also working towards creating a major neuropsychiatry linked data platform.

His methodological research aims at making it easier for researchers to conduct high quality research, with less chance of bias and improved causal inference ultimately leading to findings that are more trustworthy. Ongoing work includes an analysis plan template for observational studies; and the website causaldiagrams.org that aims to make it easier for researchers to create and use causal diagrams.

publications

Journal articles
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Cvejic RC; Watkins TR; Walker AR; Reppermund S; Srasuebkul P; Draper B; Withall A; Winkler D; Honan I; Mackechnie D; Trollor J, 2022, 'Factors associated with discharge from hospital to residential aged care for younger people with neuropsychiatric disorders: An exploratory case-control study in New South Wales, Australia', BMJ Open, 12, pp. e065982, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-065982
2022
Liao P; Vajdic CM; Reppermund S; Cvejic RC; Watkins TR; Srasuebkul P; Trollor J, 2022, 'Readmission and emergency department presentation after hospitalisation for epilepsy in people with intellectual disability: A data linkage study', PLoS ONE, 17, pp. e0272439, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272439
2022
Watkins TR; Harvey LA, 2020, 'I am not biased. It is everyone else’s problem', Spinal Cord, 58, pp. 389 - 390, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41393-020-0446-2
2020
Granger E; Watkins T; Sergeant JC; Lunt M, 2020, 'A review of the use of propensity score diagnostics in papers published in high-ranking medical journals', BMC Medical Research Methodology, 20, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-00994-0
2020
Parker GB; Watkins T, 2002, 'Treatment-resistant depression: when antidepressant drug intolerance may indicate food intolerance', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36, pp. 263 - 265
2002
Theses / Dissertations
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Watkins T, 2019, Understanding uncertainty and bias to improve causal inference in health intervention research, http://hdl.handle.net/2123/20772
2019