Understanding rare diseases in order to better diagnose and treat them effectively is a major challenge due to the multiplicity of syndromes and the small number of people affected by rare diseases. To meet this challenge, the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec will launch a research chair in digital health, funded by the Quebec Ministry of the Economy and Innovation. Medicine, computer science and artificial intelligence will become one with a view to revolutionizing patient care.

A new research chair co-directed by two women researchers

This new “junior-senior” chair will be co-directed by Professor Anita Burgun, who will hold a position at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMSS) at the University of Sherbrooke, while retaining her duties at the University of Paris. She will be accompanied by Christina Khnaisser, a young emerging researcher in health informatics and future professor at the FMSS and the Faculty of Science. This first one says about the chair:

“What we’re looking to build is a system with the capacity to securely and ethically analyze the patient data that is accumulated in the course of their care. We’ll be building a network of databases that will cover all of Canada, but will also be transatlantic.”

Christina Khnaisser continues:

“Professor Burgun has a vision for medicine. She knows the needs in the field, while I develop rigorous IT solutions. Working together, we will be able to apply them in the field of health, and more specifically to rare diseases.”

Primary goal: design learning healthcare systems using data and AI

The goal of these two researchers will be to design learning healthcare systems that will safely analyze clinical record data, medical images, and physiological information measured from patients in their daily lives. This will allow doctors to compare medical profiles to speed up diagnostic decisions and optimize treatments without always having to meet in a specialized centre for follow-up.

To achieve this, the two recipients will rely on PARS3, a powerful digital platform born of a France-Québec collaboration and developed at the UdeS by the Groupe interdisciplinaire de recherche en informatique de la santé (GRIIS). This tool addresses ethical issues, as the Université de Sherbrooke considers that moving massive data containing personal information can be delicate, particularly between countries.

They will also have access to the CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS patient database. The two researchers and their team will work with many partners, including patient associations. They will use AI tools to provide sophisticated analysis of a large volume of data.

Positioning the Université de Sherbrooke and Quebec more generally as a specialist in digital health

For the dean of the FMSS, Professor Dominique Dorion, this project comes at the right time:

“Over the past 30 years, health systems have accumulated incredible amounts of medical data in electronic format. We lacked the technology to explore this ocean of information. We now have computer science and artificial intelligence. The Chair will teach us how to fish in this ocean, in a responsible manner.”

Dean of the Faculty of Science Carole Beaulieu is delighted with the interdisciplinary dimension of this Chair:

“The collaborations between the Faculty of Science and the FMSS extend into multiple areas of health informatics, namely massive data processing, artificial intelligence, medical imaging and bioinformatics. The work of this new chair will allow us to push our expertise in this area even further.”

In addition to promoting knowledge sharing between universities, this chair will generate an increased offer of joint training and better preparation of the next generation in digital health, while building on the participation of women in the field. The Université de Sherbrooke wishes to position itself internationally as a specialist in the sector and considers that it has all the assets needed to promote the development of learning health systems.

Translated from Québec : création d’une chaire de recherche en numérique de la santé pour mieux soigner les maladies rares