A core focus in the department is health data science. We use routinely collected health data, disease registries, social media data and large research cohorts to understand risk factors for disease, identify health inequalities, and develop digital health tools for healthcare improvement.
Health data science can be used to improve healthcare and health outcomes by contributing to the development of risk prediction or precision medicine, automating clinical tasks and developing system efficiencies in healthcare systems. Artificial intelligence can be used for many of the same tasks and also for supporting patients’ health outside of the clinic for example using chatbots, apps or wearables.
Our research is founded on extensive public engagement and end-user or stakeholder consultation. We also carry out implementation research to understand how best to translate data science insights into clinical changes and improvements.
We are a growing team and look outward to support capacity building in data science in the Kent Surrey and Sussex region, working with University, NHS and local authority colleagues to address local health needs.