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Apologies for cross-posting
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Dear all
Please could you circulate these details to anyone you think might be
interested in the conference.
Thanks
Paul
EXPLOITING EXISTING DATA FOR HEALTH RESEARCH
University of St Andrews, Scotland, from 17-19 September 2009
In 2007 we hosted the first ‘Exploiting Existing Data for Health
Research’ conference at the University of St Andrews. Designed for
researchers and practitioners interested in record linkage and the use
of routine health data in their research, this three day conference
attracted over 70 papers and 120 participants from across the world
including New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, and many
countries in Europe. Following funding from the Wellcome Trust, through
the Scottish Health Informatics Programme (SHIP), we are pleased that
this will become a biennial event. This 3-day inter-disciplinary
conference will gather together an international group of researchers
who have expertise in the linkage and use of administrative or routine
data for health research or health care improvement. Among others it
will appeal to health researchers, including public health
professionals, policy analysts, health planners, and those working in
health technology assessment, as well as those working in health-related
disciplines, such as health economics, population scientists,
statisticians and demographers.
The deadline for abstracts has been extended to MONDAY 15 JUNE and we
invite submissions on one of five themes:
1. The value of record linkage in health research
The use of linked data is commonplace in health research. This theme
will include papers based on one-off and general purpose studies which
demonstrate the range of research benefits that result from record linkage.
2. Record linkage for health care improvement
Linked datasets are also vital to the improvement of health care
services. This theme will include papers covering a range of themes
including linkage to support health surveillance, health needs
assessment, patient safety and quality improvement activities,
performance assessment and accountability.
3. Longitudinal record linkage
Of particular research value are longitudinal studies which track
information about individuals or organisations through time, providing
the opportunity to examine how different characteristics influence one
another sequentially. This session will include papers that address the
particular strengths of longitudinal data collection.
4. The methodological challenges of record linkage
This theme will include papers on state-of-the-art techniques for record
linkage. Techniques might include methods for record linkage, disclosure
control, data management and analysis of linked data.
5. Confidentiality, disclosure and ethical issues
The linkage of potentially sensitive data for health research and health
care improvement raises various ethical issues. This theme will include
papers that evaluate, for example, the public perception of record
linkage, or advance the debate about balancing people’s right to privacy
and the public benefits of linked data for health research.
We are pleased to report that the conference will include 3
internationally renowned keynote speakers:
PROF. JOHN FRANK
Professor John Frank trained in Medicine and Community Medicine at the
University of Toronto, in Family Medicine at McMaster University, and in
Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He
has been Professor at the University of Toronto, in the Department of
Public Health Sciences, since 1983. He was the founding Director of
Research at the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto from 1991 to
1997. In 2000, Professor Frank was appointed inaugural Scientific
Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Institute of
Population and Public Health. In July 2008, he became Director of a new
Edinburgh-based Unit, funded by the Medical Research Council and the
Scottish Chief Scientist Office: the Scottish Collaboration for Public
Health Research and Policy. The Collaboration seeks to develop and
robustly test novel public health policies and programs to equitably
improve health status in Scotland, through the convening and ongoing
support of researcher/research-user consortia. Prof. Frank also holds a
Chair at the University of Edinburgh in Public Health Research and
Policy. His broad research and professional interests concern the
determinants of population and individual health status, and especially
the causes, remediation and prevention of socio-economic gradients in
health.
PROF. D'ARCY HOLMAN
Prof. Holman holds the Foundation Chair in Public Health at the
University of Western Australia. The world class WA Data Linkage System
was instigated by Prof. Holman in 1995 as one of only 6 comprehensive
systems of its type in the world. His research interests focus on the
use of innovative epidemiological methods to study the utilisation and
outcomes of health services. His published works exceed 400 and he has
made significant contributions to research training in Australia and by
teaching courses by invitation in other locations around the globe. He
was recently completed a three-year term as a member of the Australian
National Health & Medical Research Council's peak research funding
committee and was awarded Permanent Guest Professor status at the School
of Medicine at Zhejiang University in the People's Republic of China.
Prof. Holman has received the Centenary Medal of Australia for his
voluntary services to the Australian health system and in 2006 he was
awarded his country's highest professional honour for his field, the
Sydney Sax Public Health Medal, in recognition of his contributions to
the promotion and protection of the community's health.
PROF. ONORA O’NEILL
Onora O’Neill was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge from
1992-2006, and teaches in the Faculty of Philosophy in Cambridge. She
writes on ethics and political philosophy, with particular interests in
international justice, the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, questions of
bioethics, conceptions of accountability and trust, as well as ways in
which conceptions of free speech, freedom of information and privacy
bear on uses of health and genomic information. She sits in the House of
Lords as a crossbencher (Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve), is President of
the British Academy and chairs the Nuffield Foundation.
Further details can be found on the flier advertising this conference at:
http://www.lscs.ac.uk/SHIP_2009-1.pdf
Note that there is also a five-day training course on using linked
health data directly preceding the conference and led by D'Arcy Holman.
Details of this are also included in the flier.
Best wishes
Paul
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Paul Boyle
Head, School of Geography & Geosciences
University of St Andrews
St Andrews KY16 9AL
Scotland
Tel: +44 (0) 1334 462397
Fax: +44 (0) 1334 463949
LINKS
Geography & Geosciences (http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/gg/)
Longitudinal Studies Centre - Scotland (http://www.lscs.ac.uk)
Social Dimensions of Health Institute (http://www.sdhi.ac.uk)
Population, Space and Place (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/psp)
British Society for Population Studies
(http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/BSPS/)
The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No
SC013532
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