NCIMI Voices

On this episode of NCIMI Voices, we celebrate advances in algorithms for detecting early stage lung cancer.

Claire Bloomfield speaks with by Prof Fergus Gleeson, NCIMI's Chief Medical Officer and chief investigator for the DART research programme.

They are joined by Optellum's CEO Václav Potěšil who talks about the company's recent FDA clearance in the US for Virtual Nodule Clinic to detect potentially cancerous nodules (small lesions) on lungs.

We cover:

-  Fergus on the DART programme for lung health and how it works with Optellum as a partner.

-  Václav explains how their AI algorithm supports workflow and accurate decision making in a clinical setting.

-  Václav explaining why FDA clearance for Optellum’s Virtual Nodule Clinic is “The biggest milestone in the history of our company”.

-  How has Covid 19 impacted diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer? How could AI help support workflow?

-  Where are we heading next? Optellum’s vision for CE marking and wider lung health to enable patients to be diagnosed and doctors to make optimum decisions for treatment to radically improve patient outcomes.

About DART

About Optellum

2020 was a challenging year for the NCIMI team and its partners.

In this mini series, CEO Claire Bloomfield talks to partners who have stepped up to the challenge during 2020 and continue to do so in 2021.

In part two, Claire is joined by John Kalafut – Chief scientist for digital/informatics research at GE Healthcare.

He describes himself as: “A real, driven innovator that loves to find and push boundaries in large and small organizations. I am very good at finding routes and paths through multi-dimensional problems requiring a blend of healthcare domain, scientific, computational, and product development acumen. I’m most proud of the projects and efforts that are now used in clinical practice around the world.”

They discuss:

-  Missing seeing each other face to face to create ideas and collaborate

-  Trusting AI to take the place of a human in a busy clinic

-  How to choose the right tech for the patient

-  The end game – how AI tech is having a positive impact and improving patient wellbeing

-  Challenges of working with a hardworking, stretched health care sector in the UK.

-  Innovating the workflow for AI and healthcare

-  First Vs next generations of AI application in medical imaging

Thanks to our funders, Innovate UK.

This year has been a challenging one, and for the NCIMI team it's been no different.

In this mini series, CEO Claire Bloomfield talks to partners who have stepped up to the challenge during 2020.

She is joined by one of NCIMI's founding partners, Rajarshi Banerjee, known to all as Banjo.

Using healthcare data to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with a huge range of medical conditions is right at the heart of NCIMI’s mission.

But what are the ethical and legal implications of using anonymous patient data to develop medical technology?

NCIMI has been working closely with Future Care Capital (FCC) and Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP to undertake an analysis of the legal provisions and issues impacting research and commercial usage of healthcare data.

On this episode of NCIMI Voices, Claire talks to Annemarie Naylor, Director of Policy and Strategy at FCC, who was instrumental in developing the report - Research and Commercial Use of Healthcare Data: a review of the legal issues surrounding the potential ownership and exploitation of health data.

And to bring a patient perspective, we have Neil McClements who is CEO of the charity Haemochromatosis UK.

Together, they discuss the opportunities and challenges of working with patient data for the purposes of discovery.

About Haemochromatosis UK

Haemochromatosis is a genetic condition where a person absorbs too much iron from the diet, creating “iron overload”.  Neil talks about how use of patient data is as important as donating blood – something his service users know a lot about, since regular blood donation is an effective treatment for people living with Haemochromatosis.

Hear from NCIMI’s CEO Claire Bloomfield about how the NCIMI network is responding to the Covid 19 crisis.

Claire is joined by Dr George Harston, Chief Medical Officer at Brainomix and Dr Kiruba Nagaratnam, consultant stroke physician and geriatrician, and clinical lead for stroke medicine at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Royal Berks Hospital is the first hospital in the Thames Valley to start using the cutting-edge AI software developed by Oxford-based Brainomix, used in the Emergency Department to help clinicians quickly diagnose stroke.

This in turn will speed up doctors' decision making around treatment and, when necessary, fast forward certain patients to specialist centres for clot retrieval treatment.

George discusses how the NHS is working in a joined up way-  and how communication  is key to be resilient in the face of this challenge.

Kiruba shares how he sees a system “devolving” to be more responsive in supporting rapid adoption of new technologies.

It's an energetic and positive take on how the NHS and expert medical partners are able to respond and mobilise technology to support patient care.

Thank you to NCIMI's funders, Innovate UK.

Join Claire Bloomfield, Fergus Gleeson and Jim Davies from the University of Oxford's NCIMI consortium as they share their experiences of integrating AI into healthcare systems.

Delivering effective AI imaging solutions into the NHS is a huge challenge, requiring high-quality data, evidence and wide-scale collaboration to refine, validate and monitor each new intervention.

NCIMI has established a unique multi-stakeholder approach to address these challenges. By involving NHS Trusts, commercial partners, such as GE, and patient groups, they have created an environment in which experts can collaborate effectively, giving the consortium the power and insight to make AI in healthcare a reality.

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