Putting data at the centre of responses to health and social care system challenges is crucial to improving services through research and innovation. The Usher Building is at the heart of the growing health innovation district of the Edinburgh BioQuarter. This ecosystem is grounded in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland region, while supporting growth and development internationally.
BioQuarter is a partnership between The City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise and The University of Edinburgh. Home to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, a host of ambitious life sciences companies, and much of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at The University of Edinburgh - it truly is a thriving space for accelerating innovation.
Snapshot: Supporting clinical decision to improve outcomes
Every year in the UK, 1 in 4 Emergency Department visits involve patients citing chest pain or severe breathlessness. Rapid and accurate diagnosis is often difficult. For this reason, around twenty per cent of patients receiving acute cardiac care return to the Emergency Department within 30 days of their initial attendance. By digitally delivering the most relevant clinical data and predictive analytics directly to Emergency Department teams we aim to prevent these twenty per cent of patients returning within 30 days.
Snapshot: Develop new tech to diagnose seizures
Working with industry partner ‘BrainsView’ Dr Milly Lo and team supported development of a novel technology to detect, and hence treat, seizures in critically ill children early – without the need for review by specialist doctors. Partnering together enabled the University to access the software from BrainsView as well as their industry expertise, and for BrainsView to improve their product, access to software engineering and clinical data and networks. Passionate about translating this tool into helping patients, Dr Lo and colleagues are exploring avenues to have the technology scaled and adopted.
Snapshot: AI tool to predict dementia risk using high street eye tests
The NeurEYE research team, co-led by Professor Miguel Bernabeu of the Usher Institute, has gathered nearly a million eye scans from opticians across Scotland — forming the world’s largest dataset of its kind.
Scientists are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse the image data, linked to relevant patient data on demographics, treatment history and pre-existing conditions. This data is anonymised and patients can’t be identified, but it allows researchers to find patterns that could indicate a person’s risk of developing dementia, as well as giving a broad picture of brain health.
Snapshot: Upskilling professionals in digital transformation
Our Talent Programme seeks to support a modern health and social care workforce that can harness the power of data to transform the delivery of care, delivering high quality learning and development opportunities to support the needs of multiple stakeholders. We have an ambitious programme of activities to engage and train 20,000 students and health and social care professionals in the application of data and digital technologies. This includes building data science expertise through engagement with further education and modern apprenticeships, offering opportunities in lifelong learning, continuing professional development, through undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and beyond. Our Teaching Organisation delivers world-class education at all levels.