Public health and health data science covers a wide range of issues surrounding the collection and analysis of health data in health environments for public health purposes.
Currently, BSMS researchers are working with specialists across different fields on a wide ranging programme of interdisciplinary research around electronic health records (EHR). EHRs are digital stores of patient and population health information with the capacity to be created and shared across different health care settings; they can include information such as consultation notes, treatments, reactions, medical tests etc. Research in this area helps to build a better understanding of our health services, in addition to the patterns of disease and care by opening up the possibilities of collecting and analysing data in more sophisticated ways.
Coordinating a comprehensive vision and research strategy with the Universities of Brighton and Sussex, researchers at BSMS collaborate with colleagues from a range of disciplines including informatics, astronomy, law, philosophy, social science, management and engineering. We have particular interests in the clinical domains of dementia and mental health, and the methodological domains of free text; natural language processing; human factors in data creation; and the ethics of repurposing patient data for research.