Boost for a ‘digital health revolution’ to tackle chronic diseases
Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology (IT) researchers will be part of a new $13.7 million dollar project to unlock digital health data on debilitating diseases that could reduce hospitalisations, tackle complications and cut health costs.
Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology (IT) researchers will be part of a new $13.7 million dollar project to unlock digital health data on debilitating diseases that could reduce hospitalisations, tackle complications and cut health costs.
Led by the University of Queensland (UQ) the National Infrastructure for Federated Learning in Digital Health (NINA) project will enable researchers to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to access siloed information on debilitating chronic diseases.
The five year initiative has received $6 million from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) National Critical Research Infrastructure scheme to create a national data network without compromising data privacy or security which will find solutions to better manage conditions such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
Collaborator on the project and Professor of Practice in Digital Health in Monash University's Faculty of IT, Professor Chris Bain, said current databases that inform digital health programs across the country are not easily accessible.
“Meaningful use of health databases needs data transfers and integration which becomes problematic in practice because of various privacy and data sharing restrictions across the country,” Professor Bain said.
“This has ultimately led to an almost insurmountable divide across healthcare sectors, including a lack of data connectivity across primary, secondary and tertiary care.
“Through NINA, chief investigators including bioinformatics and biomedical AI expert Associate Professor Jiangning Song from Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and AI experts and privacy protection experts Dr Yasmeen George and Dr Xingliang Yuan from Monash’s Faculty of IT will focus on applying machine learning to these datasets and share learnings and analysis across health organisations and states while protecting the privacy and integrity of the data,” Professor Bain explained.
NINA Chief Investigator, UQ Queensland Digital Health Centre (QDHeC) Director Associate Professor Clair Sullivan said a lack of access to digital health information was holding back medical research, and the project would deliver digital infrastructure to help fight chronic diseases.
“As an endocrinologist, I see the impact of diabetes on patients and their families at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital,” Associate Professor Sullivan said.
“To better manage this disease and other chronic illnesses on a global scale we need to harness the power of digital solutions, which are within our reach.
“Australia has excellent digital health records, but data is siloed across health systems, preventing talented researchers from accessing millions of records about treatments and trends in crippling chronic conditions,” Associate Professor Sullivan added.
In addition to the MRFF grant the NINA project has received an additional $7.7 million in contributions from UQ, Monash University and Macquarie University and the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation. The amount includes contributions from Monash’s Faculty of Information Technology’s industry partners.
QDHeC will work with 23 Australian and global partners including leading computer scientists from Monash University to co-design NINA’s conceptual framework and speed up translation and adoption of this collaborative data model at a national scale to ensure success.
Professor Chris Bain from Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology is available for interviews.