Latest News
Health Informatics Research Advisory Group Report
A new report outlines a nationwide collaborative approach which should position Scotland well in its ambition to set the international standard for secure use of routinely collectively patient data for research.
This report from the HIRAG group and published on behalf of the eHealth Strategy Board and Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government, describes a Health and Biomedical Informatics Research Strategy for Scotland to 2020. The group concluded that there needs to be:
- Strong working relationships between the emerging and existing infrastructure.
- Researchers must have better access to high quality sources of data and be able to work in settings where they can share expertise and new ideas.
- Information governance needs to be proportionate and the processes of approval and assurance streamlined.
- Data controllers need to be assured that the new arrangements are secure.
- The NHS and Industry partners must be engaged to accelerate the translation and impact of health informatics research. Public confidence and trust need to be maintained through a two-way dialogue about uses of data.
"When an Entire County is a Cohort"
The Tenth Mackenzie lecture will be delivered this year by Professor Mads Melbye, Professor of Epidemiology and Executive Vice President at Statens Serum Institut in Denmark. He is also Professor of Medical Epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen and holds academic positions at the Karolinska Institute and Stanford University. Professor Melbye’s research involves using large datasets to determine genetic and environmental factors in various diseases, including cancer and autism.
The lecture will be held at 1pm on 28 May at the Gannochy Trust Lecture Theatre, Level 7, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, with lunch from 12.30. For more information, contact y.gormley@dundee.ac.uk.
International profile for UK research collaborations
The SHIP and SAIL initiatives are among just six best practice examples of timely and safe use of health and care data in a report report just published by the Council of the Canadian Academies. You can read the full report here.
PopInfo'15 - Call for papers
This conference, being held on 10 August 2015 in Sydney, is calling for papers. For more information, click here.
Latest Publications
Two papers have been published by our colleagues in Aberdeen:
- C Black, D Moir, N Tagiyeva-Milne, P Helms Pharmacovigilance in children: detecting adverse drug reactions in routine electronic healthcare records. A systematic review. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2015
- Angharad Marks, Nicholas Fluck, Gordon J Prescott, Lynn Robertson, William G Simpson, W Cairns Smith, Corri Black. Looking to the future: Predicting outcomes in a large community cohort with chronic kidney disease. NDT 2015
Save the date I
Workshop: Informatics and Data Science: Opportunities for Clinical Academic Trainees in Scotland. 18 May, Edinburgh Bioquarter, 2pm to 5 pm. Speakers: Professor Sir John Savill, professor Andrew Morris and Professor Tom Macdonald.
Save the date II
Farr Institute International Conference in St Andrews on 26-28 August 2015. Thanks to all those researchers who have submitted their abstracts. Delegate registration closes on 30 June.
Other Events
To raise money for the Research Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Farr regular Jill Pell is to cycle Lands End to John O’Groats this September – a mere 960 miles over 9 days, ascending the equivalent of twice up Everest. If you feel inclined to donate, click here.