At NCIMI, our mission is to integrate multimodal health data including medical imaging, such as CT and MRI scans, and apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve patient care.

At the centre of our mission is the effective and ethical use of anonymised patient data.

We’re based at University of Oxford’s Big Data Institute (although the team have been working very productively from home in recent months) so we’re at the very heart of Covid-19 research nationally and globally.

Whilst our roots are planted in Oxford, our work spans the whole UK, with NHS partners including those in Glasgow, Cornwall and the South East.

Our medtech partners have global reach, and our charity partners bring specific expertise and knowledge about areas of unmet patient need across a diverse range of medical conditions.

When NCIMI launched last year, our focus was on bringing together expertise from across the ecosystem, combining world-leading technology with leading researchers in commercial, NHS and academic settings using patient data to transform how medical professionals diagnose disease.

It’s this collaborative approach between 25 partners that makes NCIMI impactful: speeding up and improving how we diagnose and prevent diseases whilst lowering costs, improving treatment options for patients.​

Little did we know how important this work might become in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

 

Pivoting for Covid

Since May this year, NCIMI has been able to re-channel some of our funding from Innovate UK directly into Covid-19 related research projects.

These include:

  • ​Funding for the COVERSCAN study with Perspectum and Alliance Medical, to map how Covid-19 impacts the health of multiple organs through imaging https://coverscan.com
  • Supporting the University of Oxford working with GE Healthcare with to develop and test algorithms to aid in the diagnosis and management of COVID-19 pneumonia.
  • Supporting the further expansion of the evaluation and role out of the Brainomix e-Stroke Suite of AI enabled decision support for stroke care across the South East of England
  • Providing the image data integration, storage and access for the national;PHOSP-Covid NIHR programme supporting. This is a consortium of leading researchers and clinicians from across the UK working together to understand and improve long-term health outcomes for patients who have been in hospital with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. https://www.phosp.org

 

​Joining the dots

Joining HDR UK was the natural next step for NCIMI. Both our organisations came to fruition in early 2019, and we absolutely share the Alliance’s ethos of collaboration and sharing knowledge and experience.

It builds on our work with Future Care Capital to review current legislation impacting research and commercial usage of health care in the UK. We’re excited to share our knowledge with other members, whilst staying connected with the national picture for health data research.

Ultimately, by working together we can speed up diagnosis and improve patient outcomes.

NCIMI is funded by Innovate UK and the UK Industrial Strategy Research Fund.

https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/ncimi