Current events

The UOC intensifies cooperation with eHealth Innovation in Toronto

Photo: UOC

07/11/2018
Teresa Bau
Following from a stay by researcher Carme Carrion at this pioneering centre in the field of eHealth, the two organizations will work together in validating and implementing digital solutions for the management of various diseases

Within its strategy to build an international collaborative network with eHealth institutions, the UOC eHealth Center has formed an alliance with eHealth Innovation, a pioneering Toronto-based research and innovation centre in the field of e-health. This summer, Dr Carme Carrion, researcher and coordinator of eHealth intervention design and assessment at the UOC eHealth Center, spent a research stay in Toronto with the goal of immersing herself in the Canadian eHealth ecosystem and establishing lines of cooperation with this centre. “The organization is strategically placed at the heart of health innovation, ringed by the city's leading hospitals and research centres, and next to an incubator for biomedical and technology companies. It is also very close to the University of Toronto and the administrative centre of the Government of Ontario. All in all, it creates a very favourable environment for innovation”, Carme explained.

eHealth Innovation, formally known as the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, was formed in 2004 at the initiative of Dr Alejandro Jadad, recently awarded an honorary doctorate by the UOC, accompanied by a score of researchers and co-workers who shared his innovative vision of health. At a time when technology was only seen as a tool for doctors, the centre presented the disruptive concept that personalized technology could be used by patients to improve their experience of illness and help them self-manage their health. Fourteen years later, the institution has become a global leader in the design and implementation of mobile technologies for the management of chronic diseases.

“Obviously, our work would not be possible without the hundreds of alliances we have formed with kindred organizations around the world”, assured the centre's director, Joseph Caffazzo. One of these kindred organizations is the UOC eHealth Center. After Carme Carrion's stay, it entered into a collaboration with the Canadian centre to work on a methodology for validating and implementing digital solutions for managing all sorts of illnesses.

Digital tools play an essential role in empowering chronically ill patients

“One of eHealth Innovation's strengths”, Carrion explained, “is their assessment of the digital solution once it has been implemented and the support they provide to users. The researchers and developers work side by side with health professionals, developers and patients to ensure that the app they have designed is effective and that the user is getting maximum benefit from it.”

The Canadian centre has launched a number of digital solutions focused on people with chronic diseases. One of these is bant, an app for diabetes sufferers that is very popular in Spain; Ned, for patients with prostate cancer; Medly, for heart failure; breathe, for respiratory conditions; and I can cope, for young patients dealing with chronic pain. A shared feature of these solutions is that they enable patients and doctors to work together, through technology, to improve patients' quality of life.

The UOC eHealth Center also applies a strategy of working jointly with health organizations, and collaborations are already under way with a number of health centres. “Our objective is to advise and help them put in order all the mobile apps available in the health market, to separate the wheat from the chaff and identify those that truly contribute value”, explained Carrion.

In this process, empowering chronically ill patients is a compelling necessity that can become a reality with the help of digital tools. The UOC eHealth Center and eHealth Innovation in Toronto have formed an alliance to work together towards this goal. Carrion is convinced that “for this to happen, it must become a national priority. In Canada, they have already understood this and governments, researchers and health organizations have designed a clear strategy focused on eHealth.”