Mayo Clinic Platform Expands Distributed Data Network, Partnerships

May 05, 2023 - Mayo Clinic Platform announced an expansion to its distributed data network, Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect, through new global partnerships with Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Brazil, Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and University Health Network (UHN) in Canada, which will support work to advance artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. 

These partnerships build on an earlier relationship between Mayo Clinic Platform and Missouri-based Mercy, which the press release states was the first member of Connect. 

 Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect is designed to provide secure, cloud-based data access through Mayo’s Data Behind Glass approach. Under this model, Connect members have access to de-identified clinical data for use in research, but data doesn’t need to be moved, and each health system keeps control over its own data. 

Through the expansion of Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect and its partnerships, the alliance hopes to advance ethical health AI as part of a larger effort to transform patient care and improve outcomes. 

"We describe the data needed for fair, equitable AI as having depth (types of information), breadth (number of patients) and spread (heterogeneity),” explained John Halamka, MD, president of Mayo Clinic Platform, in the press release. “To transform health care globally, we must expand our distributed data networks to every continent. We must protect privacy, adhere to international laws and regulations, and incorporate knowledge from every language. Today, three premier medical centers in South America, Canada and the Middle East are joining our network. They will inspire and guide other regions and systems to join our worldwide effort."  

Complex medical information, such as EHRs, radiology and pathology images and videos, and other types of unstructured data can be challenging to gather and analyze. The number of languages that these data are captured in across continents and countries creates an additional barrier to consolidating and using this type of data on a global scale. 

"We are thrilled to be part of this historic alliance to transform the future of health. Creating a truly global network that will break down language barriers and enable the inclusion of diverse populations, we are unlocking the potential of AI solutions to revolutionize health care worldwide. This is not just a game-changer, but a visionary leap toward data-driven health care," said Eyal Zimlichman, MD, chief transformation officer and chief innovation officer at Sheba Medical Center, and director and founder of the ARC Center (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) for Digital Innovation at Sheba Medical Center. 

The alliance will focus initially on information collaboration and algorithm development, validation, and deployment, which will support the analysis of disease treatment and prevention patterns to promote proactive and predictive medicine. 

"Mayo Clinic is transforming health care, but we are not doing this work alone," said Gianrico Farrugia, MD, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. "We created Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect to enable innovative organizations to join us to partner to create a healthier, more equitable future for everybody." 

Recently, other organizations have also taken a global approach to data-driven improvements in healthcare and patient outcomes. 

In April, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its Health Inequality Data Repository, the largest global collection of data on population health and health disparities, with the goal of tracking and addressing health disparities.