23 November 2023
Success factors and visions were shared during the PRECISE day
On the PRECISE day, the ribbon was cut to inaugurate Sweden's first graduate school in precision health. In addition, the recently identified clustering of research areas within PRECISE were presented. Invited external lecturers shared their research and knowledge for both inspiration and potential future collaborations.
“Precision health is a matter of ensuring that each individual receives the right intervention at the right time and in the right context, thus promoting equitable health throughout life. For the healthcare system to meet this vision we need to advance research in precision health and accelerate new discoveries”, said Sebastian Gabrielsson, Vice-dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Luleå University of Technology.
Before cutting the ribbon to inaugurate the graduate school of precision health, Sebastian Gabrielsson continued:
“Given our broad expertise, covering technology, education, health, social sciences and arts, Luleå University of Technology is in a unique position to contribute to this task.”
The inauguration of the graduate school and presentation of the new doctoral students was the finale of a full day dedicated to precision health, with many inspirational talks from invited researchers within the area.
Data driven research
One of the themes during the day was data driven research, beginning with Linnea Hedman, Associate Professor at Umeå University, presenting the OLIN studies External link, opens in new window. – an epidemiological research program about asthma, allergies, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Northern Sweden.
So far, the program has 60 000 participants from the age of seven and up, individuals with registered health data from questionaries, skin prick tests, and tests of lung function. Up until now, there are 24 doctoral theses based on the data and additional 20 partly based on OLIN data.
“Among our success factors are that we have a multiprofessional team and a large sample of data from a representative population. We have high participation rates, and detailed clinical characteristics at recruitment. Some of the oldest participants have been in our study for almost 40 years, so we can look at progression. We also have international and national collaboration, not yet with PRECISE but we look forward to future collaboration”, said Linnea Hedman.
Identifying groups for targeted interventions
Ulf Strömberg External link., epidemiologist and Adjunct Professor at the University of Gothenburg talked about geomapping – identifying population groups in a precise way for targeted interventions.
“Our vision is to visualize maps and to develop a nationwide information system”, he said.
By identifying high risk groups, or groups where participation is low, the right persons can be reached, and you also get a hint on how to adapt your interventions. As one of the examples, Ulf Strömberg mentioned participation in the cervical cancer screening program. Areas with low participation correlated with location, deprivation, and high proportion of immigrants from non-western countries.
Sociological perspective of health
Mats Jakobsson, Senior Lecturer of Human Work Sciences at Luleå University of Technology gave a presentation on a sociological perspective of health.
“We are born into a social position, with different cultural, economic, and social resources. This can change, but it takes help from a significant other, for example a person or an institution. I want to analyze and describe health taking into account many factors, hopefully we can use the results to build a society where it’s better to live.”
Preventing childhood obesity
Peter Bergsten External link., Professor at Uppsala University, gave a presentation on directing society towards prevention, with examples from childhood obesity. He described how researchers are now working with the municipality of Storfors in Värmland to combat childhood obesity, by identifying children early and designing interventions. He also welcomed initiatives for future collaboration.
Precision in person-centered care
“The future is data, a whole system approach. We need not only objective data, but also collecting data on how the patient feel”, said Axel Wolf Professor at the University of Gothenburg and Centre Director at the Centre for Person-centred Care - GPCC External link, opens in new window.during his presentation “Adding precision to person-centered care, partnership is the key.”
Structured data saving lives
The last guest to give a presentation was Helena Linge External link., Implementation Strategist at Region Halland with a background in cancer research an experience of entrepreneurship. By structuring data from survivors of child cancer she and her team could identify patients in risk of developing serious late effects, for example a second cancer.
“Early detection saves lives, and reduces costs”, Helena Linge said.
Research clusters within PRECISE
Within PRECISE, five areas have been identified as subclusters, and during the PRECISE-day these areas were presented; Digital healthcare,Healthy spaces,Neurological precision health, Molecular methods for precise monitoring and holistic health and Playful platforms.
“Our long-term goal is to become a knowledge hub regarding neurological measurements”, said Örjan Johansson, Professor in Engineering Acoustics, presenting the area Neurological precision health.
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