The Project: Work Packages
The PHEMS project is at the forefront of revolutionizing health data management across Europe. Our Data Ecosystem is a pioneering effort to create a decentralized, open health data environment that transcends traditional boundaries and transforms the landscape of healthcare research and innovation.
WP1: Project management and Coordination
To ensure the successful completion of the project goals on time, within the budgetary framework, and quality standards imposed by the European Union. This WP oversees administrative and financial management and ensures financial and scientific/technical coordination, project planning, and evaluation of the project’s progress while emphasizing quality assurance.
Leader: Helsinki University Hospital, Katariina Gehrmann, [email protected]
WP2: Platform architecture and implementation
Objectives: Work Package 2 (WP2), led by Tietoevry Finland (Tietoevry), is pivotal in establishing a federated analytics network among the four data controllers in the consortium (HUS, GOSH, Erasmus, and HSJD). A key element of WP2’s role is not only to enable distributed analytics for OMOP modeled pseudonymized, anonymized, or synthetic data but also to harness federated machine learning techniques. This innovative approach will facilitate advanced data analysis and predictive modeling across different institutions while maintaining data privacy and security. The application of machine learning within this federated framework is expected to substantially enhance the capabilities of the network, particularly in the clinical use cases handled in WP4. These use cases, which involve managing cardiac patient pathways, predicting sepsis in pediatric intensive care, and treating pediatric hematology/hemophilia, will greatly benefit from the sophisticated, machine learning-driven insights generated by WP2. This alignment of WP2 with the clinical objectives underscores the project’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology for impactful healthcare outcomes.
Overall, WP2’s data architecture is a cornerstone of the project, enabling a collaborative and efficient environment for health data analysis across borders and institutions, while upholding the highest standards of data privacy and security.
Leader: Tietoevry Finland (Tietoevry), Jari Kautiala, [email protected]
WP3: Data Processing Functions
To provide various data processing functions for the data-sharing network developed in WP2. This includes collecting requirements from WP4 (analytics and analysis tools requirements) and WP5 (requirements for data anonymization and synthetization). WP3 also provides statistical expert support to clinical use cases and studies in WP4 and enables the validation of algorithmically anonymized and synthetic data.
Leader: Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam, Bruno De Brito Robalo, [email protected]
WP4: Clinical use case and validation
Objectives: To demonstrate how the federated analytics network enables state-of-the-art benchmarking research and AI development in three clinical use cases: Cardiology patients’ operation benchmarking, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Sepsis, and Hematology; hemophilia. WP4 also validates the data controller’s components for federation to ensure the validity of problem-specific algorithmic anonymization or synthetization of data for real-world use.
Leader: Sant Joan de Déu Research Foundation, Arnau Valls, [email protected], Cristina Ruiz, [email protected]
WP5: Governance and playbook
Objectives: This WP will map current data sharing policies at participating hospitals, and visualize their data user journeys and data flows. Based on this, we will define a common framework for a decentralized health data sharing ecosystem, and develop and validate a playbook with governance policies, requirements and standard operating procedures (SOP) for ecosystem members. Additionally, the WP focuses on the requirements for audits and controls to ensure privacy, cybersecurity, and compliance of the health data sharing ecosystem.
Leader: HUS (Helsinki University Hospital), Pekka Kahri, [email protected]
WP6: Dissemination & exploitation
Objectives: To develop and implement a dissemination, exploitation, and communication plan, raise awareness, organize outreach activities, promote synergies between public and private sectors, and design a long-term sustainability plan. This includes developing the project’s visual identity, such as the website, social media presence, and audio-visual materials and ensuring new hospitals join the network.
Leader: Sant Joan de Déu Research Foundation, Jennifer Mcintosh, [email protected]
WP7: Ethics Requirements
Objectives: To ensure ethical and lawful handling of personal health data. Key focuses include developing secure methods for generating synthetic data, confirming lawful data processing practices, mitigating bias in algorithm design, and establishing an ethics advisory board. This aims to protect individual privacy and uphold high ethical standards in health data management.
Leader: Helsinki University Hospital, Katariina Gehrmann, [email protected]