Joey Kong

Research Abstract

I am committed to pursuing an academic research career to study and improve health policy making. I have both academic and industrial experience working on computer modeling of various fields including macromolecules, protein binding, traffic routing, signal processing, and disease simulation modeling. My current research interests are on using modeling to investigate the benefits and harms of lung cancer screening and the applications of advanced engineering simulation methods on cancer screening simulations.

Simulation modeling and clinical trials offer different and complementary ways to investigate the relationship between a health care intervention and outcomes. The advantage of simulation modeling is the ability to integrate currently available short-term data to project long-term consequences. In the field of engineering, many techniques have been cultivated to improve the speed and the quality of simulation models. However, health service researchers utilize few of these techniques. My goal is to evaluate the applicability of some these techniques in cancer screening simulation.

I have developed many simulation models in c++ during my time at the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment. I have cultivated a vast computational skill-set for disease modeling. My research builds upon my past experiences, focusing on transferring advanced computer techniques to calibrate cancer screening simulation, model validation, and model comparison. I am the MGH Site Principal Investigator for the Lung Group of the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) and participate in comparative modeling projects evaluating lung cancer screening programs and (U.S.) population trends in smoking patterns and lung cancer mortality.

My research consists of three components: (1) the incorporation and evaluation of some engineering optimization methods for the calibration of cancer screening simulation; (2) the development of a validation procedure of the cancer induction component of a cancer screening simulation;(3) establishing a general computational method to refine the simulation model or compare the performances of different simulation models for the same underlying disease.

In summary, my research translates the existing modeling methods to improve health policy simulation models. My methodological research interests focus mainly on the development and calibration of complex microsimulation models.

Publications from Harvard Catalyst Profiles

• Huang HL, Leung CY, Saito E, Katanoda K, Hur C, Kong CY, Nomura S, Shibuya K. Effect and cost-effectiveness of national gastric cancer screening in Japan: a microsimulation modeling study. BMC Med 2020; 18:257. PubMed
• Hammer MM, Byrne SC, Kong CY. Factors Influencing the False Positive Rate in CT Lung Cancer Screening. Acad Radiol 2020. PubMed
• Gupta S, Jacobson FL, Kong CY, Hammer MM. Performance of Lung Nodule Management Algorithms for Lung-RADS Category 4 Lesions. Acad Radiol 2020. PubMed
• Criss SD, de Koning HJ, Plevritis SK, Meza R, Kong CY. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Lung Cancer Screening in the United States. Ann Intern Med 2020; 172:706-707. PubMed
• Kong CY, Hammer MM, Palazzo LL, Paquette A, Eckel AL, Jacobson FL, Barbosa EM. Cost-effectiveness of follow-up for subsolid pulmonary nodules in high-risk patients. J Thorac Oncol 2020. PubMed
• Criss SD, Palazzo L, Watson TR, Paquette AM, Sigel K, Wisnivesky J, Kong CY. Cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab for advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients with varying comorbidity burden. PLoS ONE 2020; 15:e0228288. PubMed
• Tramontano AC, Chen Y, Watson TR, Eckel A, Hur C, Kong CY. Racial/ethnic disparities in colorectal cancer treatment utilization and phase-specific costs, 2000-2014. PLoS ONE 2020; 15:e0231599. PubMed
• Howlader N, Forjaz G, Mooradian MJ, Meza R, Kong CY, Cronin KA, Mariotto AB, Lowy DR, Feuer EJ. The Effect of Advances in Lung-Cancer Treatment on Population Mortality. N Engl J Med 2020; 383:640-649. PubMed
• Watson TR, Gao X, Reynolds KL, Kong CY. Cost-effectiveness of Pembrolizumab Plus Axitinib Vs Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab as First-Line Treatment of Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma in the US. JAMA Netw Open 2020; 3:e2016144. PubMed
• Tramontano AC, Chen Y, Watson TR, Eckel A, Sheehan DF, Peters MLB, Pandharipande PV, Hur C, Kong CY. Pancreatic cancer treatment costs, including patient liability, by phase of care and treatment modality, 2000-2013. Medicine (Baltimore) 2019; 98:e18082. PubMed
• Criss SD, Cao P, Bastani M, Ten Haaf K, Chen Y, Sheehan DF, Blom EF, Toumazis I, Jeon J, de Koning HJ, Plevritis SK, Meza R, Kong CY. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Lung Cancer Screening in the United States: A Comparative Modeling Study. Ann Intern Med 2019. PubMed