Following a call for funding earlier this year, Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) is delighted to announce that Daniel Prieto-Alhambra (Professor of Pharmaco- and Device Epidemiology, and Section Head, Health Data Sciences, Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Sciences, part of the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences at the University of Oxford) will lead a new Real-World Evidence (RWE) Network Coordination Centre for the UK.
The aim of the pilot Network is to demonstrate the potential of the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM) as an enabler of efficient cross-nation federated research studies, utilising data from multiple NHS sources. The ambition is to include up to seven hospital and primary care data partners from different parts of the UK through a data partner funding call to be announced shortly.
Daniel is an epidemiologist and academic clinician scientist using routinely collected (real world) health data to generate reliable evidence for improved patient care. He leads the UK Node of the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics programme (OHDSI) and is Deputy Director for the European Medicines Agency’s Data Analysis and Real-World Interrogation Network (DARWIN EU) Coordination Centre.
The wider Network team includes work package leads Edward Burn (Senior Researcher in Epidemiology and Health Economics at the University of Oxford) and Marti Catala-Sabate (postdoctoral medical data scientist at the University of Oxford) who bring their extensive experience in software development for the OMOP CDM and of leading RWE studies across several European projects, including the European Health Data & Evidence Network (EHDEN), DARWIN-EU, and OPTIMA. Daniel, Edward, and Marti are working alongside HDR UK colleagues, led by Paola Quattroni (Head of Strategy and Engagement for UK Health Data Research Alliance) to deliver the Real-World Evidence Network Co-ordination Centre.
Daniel Prieto-Alhambra said:
“We are delighted to see the interest in federated analytics growing nationally. This support from HDR UK will set the basis for what we hope will be a key national infrastructure for faster, reproducible, and reliable health data sciences in the UK.”
Edward Burn added:
“Establishing this pilot network of data sources is an exciting opportunity to bring together different parties with data mapped to the OMOP common data model in the UK. During the project we are planning to conduct several studies that will help test the network’s readiness for conducting network research, while also delivering impactful results in themselves.”
Paola Quattroni said:
“We are very excited to work with Dani, Ed and Marti on this project to drive forward the use of real-world evidence in the UK. Dani and his team’s track record in delivering studies using RWE through the EHDEN and DARWIN-EU projects puts them in a strong position to establish a sustainable network in the UK”.
Please contact the Alliance for further enquiries: UKAlliance@hdruk.ac.uk
About the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS)
The Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) is a multi-disciplinary department focusing on discovering the causes of musculoskeletal and inflammatory conditions to deliver excellent and innovative care that improves people’s quality of life. The largest European academic department in its field, NDORMS is part of the Medical Sciences Division of the University of Oxford and is a rapidly growing community of more than 500 orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists and scientists all working in the field of musculoskeletal disorders.
The research work of the department takes place in several locations across the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, namely the Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Sciences, the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, and the Kadoorie Centre. The co-location with NHS services puts the department in an excellent position with basic researchers working alongside clinicians. This substantially improves research capacity, improving access for researchers to patients, and facilitating the interaction between clinicians and scientists that is essential for successful medical research.
About HDR UK
Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) is the national institute for health data science. Its mission is to accelerate the trustworthy use of health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives, with a long-term vision for large-scale data and advanced analytics to benefit every patient interaction, every clinical trial, and every biomedical discovery, and to transform public health. HDR UK is an independent charity supported by nine of the largest government and charity research funders in the UK.
About the UK Health Data Research Alliance
The UK Health Data Research Alliance (the Alliance) is an independent network of healthcare and research organisations, data providers, custodians and curators united to establish best practice and standards for the trustworthy use of health and related data for research at scale. The Alliance is managed by HDR UK and many of its activities are funded as part of HDR UK’s 2023-2028 core work to accelerate the trustworthy use of health data for research.
