Speaking in the opening keynote session of The Economist World Cancer Series Conference in Brussels, Professor Mark Lawler, Professor of Digital Health and Health Lead of the Momentum One Zero Innovation Centre at Queen’s University Belfast highlighted the digital transformation that is occurring in healthcare in Northern Ireland. Through a programme  of digital transformation known as encompass, data from  all 5 hospital trusts in Northern Ireland are now linked together and patients now have access to their own data through an app called My Care.

Professor Lawler said (while holding up his mobile phone on the conference platform)

“For the first time ever, the entire 1.8 million population of Northern Ireland can access their own health record on their mobile phone. Make No Mistake – this is a “Thomas Edison” lightbulb moment. It catapults Northern Ireland into the European Digital Champions League with Estonia as a Digital Trailblazer in health and wellbeing. This development will transform healthcare as we know it  and empower data-enabled patient-centric research. The ability to do research on an entire population is extremely powerful and Northern Ireland can become a model for health and social care transformation in the digital world“

Nikos Papandreo, Member of the European Parliament and member of the Public Health Committee,  re-emphasised the importance of cancer research and said

‘Europe’s fight against cancer must be grounded in both evidence and equity. Too often, critical data are still missing—especially in rural, island, and underserved regions. Dis-parities in outcomes are a daily reality in and across European Member States. If we are serious about changing this, we must invest in better data systems, ensure national accountability, and embed clinical research into every part of the cancer care pathway. Only then can we deliver on the promise of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan for every citizen’.

Over the next four years, ONEHEALTH will foster new research collaborations, provide hands-on support to SMEs, and explore how AI and digital tools can help solve long-standing health and sustainability challenges — from data fragmentation to workforce development and regional health equity. 

A key thread during the discussion was the importance of data in helping patients, clinicians, researchers and policy-makers on their path towards delivering personalized cancer care across the care journey.  As stressed by MEP Papandreou and Professor Lawler, inequalities cannot be addressed if they are not measured, to which MEP Papandreou added

“Reading the Lancet Oncology European Groundshot Commission, which Professor Lawler led with a coalition of over 50 cancer leaders, including clinicians, scientists and patients, I was immediately struck by the need, as the Groundshot Commission recommends,  to re-imagine cancer research and its  implementation in Europe, with data as a key enabler.  In the European Parliament, we are keen to engage with the cancer community to make these recommendations real, so that the great discoveries that we make in Europe are translated into real benefits for our citizens, patients and European society  as a whole.”