UK-Japan Symposium on Data-Driven Health

We are currently in an era of opportunity. A huge amount of investment is stimulating development in data science, promising new means to optimise health and quality of life at the person and population level.

Empowered with this opportunity, and the surge in globalisation that new technologies have fuelled, researchers, clinicians and policymakers must consider: how can we improve health not just in one country, but globally?

Much important groundwork has been done to explore the principles that must underpin health data research to ensure it is ethical, transparent and engages appropriately with the people and patients it affects. Amongst such activities is the public dialogue programme, policy workshop and report from the UK Academy of Medical Sciences: ‘Our data-driven future in healthcare People and partnerships at the heart of health related technologies’.

On the 26 February 2020, the Academy of Medical Sciences in partnership with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) held a symposium on Data-Driven Health: Data strategies to predict risk, prevent and manage disease in individuals and populations. 

This symposium, co-Chaired by Professor Yuko Harayama and Professor Jill Pell FMedSci, sought common ground for collaboration between the UK and Japan, to facilitate integrated international research inclusive of different populations, experts, policy systems and the public. Participants agreed that through the sharing of experiences in the development and application of data-driven health expertise and technologies, both countries can advance medical research and the level of healthcare provided to patients and public. 

Through the day’s presentations and discussions, speakers and participants explored health data optimisation and resources including biobanks; health data for public health and delivering care through digital platforms; and health data to support clinicians through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Moreover, the symposium was an opportunity to establish new research connections between the UK and Japan, starting conversations that could support enduring partnerships.

Over three sessions, this event considered data strategies to predict risk, prevent and manage disease in individuals and populations, and examine the assistive technologies that may arise from these.

The symposium brought together representatives from academia, industry and the healthcare sector in the UK and Japan to explore this challenge in the context of:

• The health data landscape and resources in the UK and Japan
• Health data for public health
• Health data for clinical decision-making

The symposium report provides an overview of the key messages to emerge from the event. Read the full report here.

The speakers presentations can be downloaded from the downloads tab on the right hand side of this page.