Mayo Clinic on Friday announced that its Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect distributed data network will expand internationally with a trio of new health system partners.

WHY IT MATTERS
With new collaborations with Brazil's Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Israel's Sheba Medical Center and Canada's University Health Network, the data-sharing network plans to broaden its capabilities toward more advanced and accurate artificial intelligence applications.

Those three health systems join Missouri-based Mercy, which began a 10-year data sharing and model validation collaboration with Mayo Clinic in 2022.

With the new expansion Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect offers clinicians and researchers secure, cloud-based access to de-identified data across three continents.

With Mayo's "Data Behind Glass" approach, each health system will have access to extensive datasets to work with, without the need to move it among the organizations – each organization keeps control over its own data throughout the process.

The goal is development and deployment of new and innovative machine learning models, built using more diverse and representative patient data.

"We describe the data needed for fair, equitable AI as having depth (types of information), breadth (number of patients) and spread (heterogeneity)," said Dr. John Halamka, president of Mayo Clinic Platform, in a statement.

"To transform health care globally, we must expand our distributed data networks to every continent. We must protect privacy, adhere to international laws and regulations, and incorporate knowledge from every language."

Mayo Clinic Platform plans to add new U.S. and global members to the collaboration in the months ahead, according to Friday's announcement.

"Mayo Clinic is transforming health care, but we are not doing this work alone," said Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. Gianrico Farrugia in a statement. "We created Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect to enable innovative organizations to join us to partner to create a healthier, more equitable future for everybody."

THE LARGER TREND
For years, language barriers, combined with the fact that large and complex types of data – from electronic health records, radiology and pathology images and videos – made international collaboration too difficult.

But recent advancements in secure cloud-based storage, along with the evolution of new AI models that could detect disease earlier and help develop targeted treatments, have made such research alliances much more feasible and promising.

Among Mayo's recent artificial intelligence initiatives: an expanded collaboration with Numares on machine learning-powered metabolic diagnostics and ongoing work with Duke, UC Berkeley and others on methods for safer and more effective AI deployments.

Listen to our recent HIMSSCast interview with Dr. Sonya Makhni, medical director of Mayo Clinic Platform Solutions, on the "'challenges, opportunities and promise" of healthcare AI, and read our recap of her keynote at the HIMSS23 Machine Learning & AI for Healthcare Forum.

ON THE RECORD
"In addition to accelerating the possibilities of leveraging and transforming data-based care, Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect will allow the inclusion of the Latin American population, currently underrepresented in research, in global studies with cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence," says Sidney Klajner, president of Brazil-based Einstein, in a statement.

"There is a clear need to consider this population profile, taking into account the context and genetic characteristics," he said. "This will be reflected in the development of more equitable health projects, expanding the supply of low-cost digital resources for vaccines and medicines, for example."

"Creating a truly global network that will break down language barriers and enable the inclusion of diverse populations, we are unlocking the potential of AI solutions to revolutionize health care worldwide," added Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, chief transformation officer and chief innovation officer at Sheba Medical Center.

"Teamwork, technology and bold thinking are essential to transforming the ways that healthcare is delivered and putting patients first," said UHN CEO Kevin Smith.