Health Analytics Hub

The Health Analytics Hub is a dynamic and collaborative space that serves as a nexus for technicians, predoctoral, postdoctoral and tenure-track researchers working or using methods in the field of data science and analytics. This hub is designed to foster innovation, learning, and the exchange of ideas, bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds who share the need for leveraging data to extract valuable insights. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology and resources, the hub provides a conducive environment for hands-on experimentation, collaborative projects, and continuous skill development.

The hub offers a supportive community and a wealth of knowledge-sharing opportunities. From workshops and seminars to hackathons and networking events, the Health Analytics Hub is the epicenter for unlocking the full potential of data-driven decision-making at ISGlobal.

Aims of the Health Analytics Hub

• Foster synergies and collaboration among ISGlobal researchers, through the exchange of knowledge, methodology and information about the latest scientific and technological advances in the field of health data analytics.
• Provide training and education covering the latest health analytics tools and methodologies, thus supporting students and early career researchers in their career path and projects.
• Foster collaboration with external institutions, including hospitals, startups and regulators to support new funding opportunities, and help translation of health informatics methods to improve global health and benefit society at large.
• Foster diversity in research by incorporating angles such as sex, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic background in health analytics projects and their design and implementation, eliminating explicit and implicit biases in data and algorithms as well as promoting inclusivity in research teams.
• Increase the visibility of ISGlobal research on topics related to data science, artificial intelligence, biostatistics and bioinformatics, in order to attract new talent (new students, researchers and collaborators) in those areas.

A collaborative space 

The ISGlobal research programs involved in the Hub include:

• The Climate, Air Pollution, Nature and Urban Health Programme
• The Environment and Health over the Lifecourse Programme

The initial research groups involved in the Hub are:

• The Biostatistics and Data Management Unit (UBIOES-DM)
• The Bioinformatics Research Group in Genetic Epidemiology and the Omics and Bioinformatics Core Facility
• The Biomedical Data Science Group
• The eHealth Group 
• The Adaptation Group
• The Environmental Epidemiology and Biostatistics Group

Advances in Data Analytics

• GPT-4 has been released. This is amazing for imaging creation. The prompt is really easy to use.
• New AI Tool for Precision Medicine: AI-HOPE (Artificial Intelligence Agent for High-Optimization and Precision Medicine) — an AI-powered platform that lets researchers run complex biomedical data analyses using simple natural language commands. 

Free AI resources 

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant that helps developers by suggesting code snippets and completing functions based on context within their code editor.VSCode (Visual Studio Code) is a lightweight, open-source code editor developed by Microsoft, offering features like syntax highlighting, debugging, and extensions for multiple programming languages. 

• Instruction to set up GitHub Copilot in VS Code. This includes a free version, but we can go even further and activate a free premium account if we are students:
• Setting Up GitHub Student and GitHub Copilot as an Authenticated Student Developer.
• For those coding in R, here is the tutorial to be able to use VSCode for running/coding R.

Tools for scientists

• A Beginner’s Guide to Integrating LLMs with Your Data Science Projects.