In most causes of autoimmune disease, where the body’s immune system attacks an individual’s own body, the condition flares repeatedly over time. For example, in ANCA vasculitis, half of sufferers have a flare within 5 years. This requires use of powerful medications, which cause infection by suppressing the immune system. AVERT brings together physician, patient, computer scientist and artificial intelligence expertise to create a system that learns over time about the impact of the environment on in ANCA vasculitis disease flare, with the goal of creating a clinical support tool and an intelligent smartphone app that will empower the patient in managing their own condition.
The overall goal of HELICAL is to establish a European training network to prepare the next generation of Health Informatics Researchers. Advances in information science and artificial intelligence provide unprecedented opportunities for using these datasets to elucidate the complex biology of these disorders, how it is influenced by environmental triggers, and to personalise their management.Currently, exploitation of these opportunities is severely limited by the shortage of researchers with the required informatics skills, knowledge of requisite data protection and stewardship principles and understanding of the clinical context. HELICAL addresses this unmet need by developing a trans-sectoral and interdisciplinary training programme that builds on the expertise and existing collaborations of its partners.
The European EGPA Study Group (EESG) was created in 2018 to define a network of scientists and clinicians from some European EGPA referral centers (at the moment 30) to promote collaborative clinical and transnational studies, to enhance knowledge about the disease and to develop new recommendations about its diagnosis and treatment. It is led by Dr. Giacomo Emmi and Prof. Augusto Vaglio (Florence) and Prof. Benjamin Terrier (Paris). The link to the website: EESG Group