News 2020

Public health restrictions put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus are ranked for their effectiveness in a global study.

Members of BREATHE – the Health Data Research Hub for Respiratory Health have joined forces with researchers from across the UK to boost vital studies into coronavirus antibodies and immunity.

A new study highlights significant drops in A&E attendances, and emergency and planned hospital admissions across Scotland during the first few months of the pandemic.

People who are admitted to hospital with Covid-19 can be divided into four distinct groups, according to data from the world’s largest study of patients with the disease.

How Covid-19 has affected people living in rural communities in Scotland is to be captured in a new survey.

Congratulations to Professor Cathie Sudlow.

A new data repository has been created to bring together health and social care data for the first time, driving forward data-driven approaches to improving care.

Authors: Hayley Dunlop, Prerna Krishan, Loren Kock, Fiona Dobbie

The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator has announced a grant to Health Data Research UK to establish a new International COVID-19 Data Research Alliance and Workbench to support the rapid development of insights and treatments to fight the pandemic.

A study involving a simple salt water solution which may help to reduce the early symptoms and progression of COVID-19 has launched today.

Patients who need a blood pressure test might not need to visit their GP thanks to a digital system that makes it easier to send results to their doctor.

Data from popular home genetic-testing kits could help scientists shed light on why some people who catch coronavirus have no symptoms while others become very ill.

In this brief overview of some highlighted activities we aim to give you a flavour of the range of work that is ongoing across the Institute contributing to the COVID-19 response across the UK and internationally.

Academics from Usher have been making a significant contribution to coverage and improving public understanding of what we know and don’t know about COVID-19.

Authors: Monika Arora, Fiona Davidson, Linda Bauld

Professor Harry Campbell has been elected to the prestigious Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship.

Easing the UK’s Covid-19 lockdown could begin by strengthening protection for the most vulnerable while relaxing restrictions for everyone else, experts suggest.

A study aiming to recruit at least 12,000 people, aged 16 or over, from across the UK has launched.

An Artificial Intelligence-powered dashboard for tracking Covid-19-related public sentiment and opinion mining in social media platforms will be set up by a joint project between Professor Amir Hussain from the Edinburgh Napier University's School of Computing and Professor Aziz Sheikh of the Usher Institute.

Study to generate evidence to support policy and practice to address tobacco use during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reviewing the evidence on COVID-19 relevant topics to support policy decisions.

A study that uses patient data to track the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic in near real time across Scotland is set to launch.

A survey has been launched to capture how Covid-19 is affecting the mood of the nation.

Four Edinburgh researchers have joined a group providing expert advice to the Scottish Government on its response to Covid-19.

Scottish Cancer Registry and Intelligence Service (SCRIS) team achieves successful Systematic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) data connection in two more areas bringing national data coverage to more than 90% of the Scottish population. SCRIS also demonstrates prototype dashboard for SACT data to all Scottish Cancer Networks with very positive response

Usher PhD student Holly Tibble and her team wins the Digital Health Product Forge 2020

Two members of Usher Institute have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

£110 raised for charity CHAS (Children's Hospices Across Scotland) in month-long virtual quiz

Join Europe’s largest annual digital health & care hackathon on February 20-23, 2020.

​​​​​​​The University of Edinburgh and Legal & General have announced a major partnership to improve understanding of care in later life and to revolutionise how it is delivered.

People with at least two grandparents who were born in Orkney or Shetland are being asked to join a genetic study aimed at improving medical treatments.

The Scottish Cancer Registry and Intelligence Service (SCRIS) receives nomination in Holyrood’s sixth annual Digital Health & Care Awards.