The Usher Institute – a Data-Driven Innovation Hub at The University of Edinburgh
One of five Data-Driven Innovation hubs seeking to deliver inclusive growth and make a positive difference in society as part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal; the Usher Institute ‘works with people, populations and their data to address real-world challenges in health and social care’.
As for many organisations, the COVID-19 pandemic has given an added urgency to our work in recent months, with many initiatives pivoting fully to focus on supporting clinical service improvements and research into the impacts of this novel coronavirus. The DataLoch, for example, has developed an in depth, linked, clinically adjudicated dataset of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the region.
“DataLoch has already shown its value with the COVID-19 specific data set which has enabled us to explore and address new challenges facing the NHS as a result of the pandemic. We are a learning organisation focused on quality of care and we believe DataLoch will help drive data-enabled innovation within NHS Lothian to continue to improve the efficiency and quality of care we deliver.”
Tracey Gillies, Medical Director, NHS Lothian
Established with the first Chair of Public Health in the UK in 1898, the Usher Institute has a long track record of using an evidence-based approach to improving public health. With recent advances in data science progress is moving at pace, with innovative collaborations across a global community now an everyday reality.
Within the Data-Driven Innovation Programme at The University of Edinburgh, the Institute drives health and social care innovation at scale by integrating the activities of: clinicians, life scientists and data scientists to identify new, co-produced insights in identified areas of challenge; and industry and public sector organisations to extract, apply and commercialise expert knowledge. We draw on Scotland’s mature and world-leading health data assets, and well-established governance and data-sharing protocols developed in partnership with the National Health Service and the Scottish Government.
An ambitious plan of education and training has been laid out, enabling students and health and social care professionals to realise the value of health and care data, which will benefit the health and wellbeing of citizens in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland region and beyond.
Find out more:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/dataloch
Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh
