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Health-RI: data unlimited
Currently only 25% of cancer treatments are effective, largely because success depends on patient-specific factors such as the patient’s genetic makeup and lifestyle, and specific characteristics of their tumor. A more personalized approach is therefore needed to improve cancer patient outcomes.
The same is true in other areas of disease, with personalized medicine widely considered to be one of the keys to cutting healthcare costs. Offering the best possible treatment for each individual patient requires integrating and studying diverse collections of longitudinal biomedical data. At present, however, that data is often fragmented, being generated and held at different hospitals and research centers around the country. This is where Health-RI kicks in.
Health-RI is a highly innovative integrated research infrastructure initiated by BBMRI-NL, ELIXIR-NL, EATRIS-NL, NFU, DTL, Lygature, and Health~Holland. Its goal is to interconnect biomedical resources in order to empower researchers in the development of better personalized health solutions. Health-RI will function as a broker, connecting existing Dutch research infrastructures, including biobanks, medical image and data collections, research resources, and IT solutions. At the same time, Health-RI will support research projects by providing tools, methodologies and best-practices, data management and stewardship training, and ethical and legal services. By capitalizing on existing resources and continuously assimilating new ones, Health-RI’s ultimate goal is to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for researchers in the personalized health domain.
Currently, more than 70 partners from industry, academia, patient advocacy and government support the Health-RI initiative and endorse the need for it. By starting to generate data in a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) manner under a well-defined license, scientists can already prepare themselves for the next generation of interconnected research infrastructures.
Find out more information on Health-RI by visiting their new website www.health-ri.org or make contact via info@health-ri.org.
Also save the date in your diary to visit the third Health-RI conference on December 8, 2017, for an in-depth look at what Health-RI can do for your research project and patient outcomes.