HDRUK Oxford Monthly Meetup, Monday 28th April 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Speaker(s): Associate Professor Sara Khalid, Dr. Marta Pineda-Moncusi and Dr. Qingze Gu
Time: 14:00 – 15:00
Mode: Hybrid
o In-person – Richard Doll Building, Lecture theatre
o Online – please register (link below)
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Opening Remarks:
Associate Professor Sara Khalid, NDORMS, University of Oxford
Short Bio: Professor Sara Khalid is an Associate Professor of Health Informatics and Biomedical Data Sciences. She is Head of the Planetary Health Informatics Lab and Machine Learning Lead at the Centre for Statistics in Medicine, NDORMS.
Sara’s research applies artificial intelligence to international real-world health and environment data, in order to further our understanding of disease and fills the gaps in global health, leveraging common data models and federated network analytics.
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Speakers:
1. Dr. Marta Pineda-Moncusi, NDORMS, University of Oxford
Title: ‘The purpose and value of capturing ethnicity data in research’.
Abstract: The lack of representation in research data results in biased outcomes that predominantly reflect the health behaviours of the majoritarian population. This absence of diversity in datasets leads to inaccurate estimates for minority or less prevalent groups, which can have detrimental effects on their health outcomes. Ethnicity, as a multifaceted concept, encompasses many elements that are often not captured in electronic health records, such as culture, language or identity. Ethnicity can serve as important health determinants, enabling a more accurate representation of population diversity and fostering more inclusive and equitable research practices. In this presentation, we will examine the completeness, coverage and granularity of ethnicity data available the Secure Data Environment of England, the NHS England, and show the impact of using different levels of granularity on the outcomes of health studies.
Short Bio: Dr Pineda-Moncusi is a Biotechnologist by background and an Epidemiologist by training. She conducted her PhD in the University of Barcelona and has been a Postdoc at Oxford for the last 4 years, where she been involved in multiple projects including musculoskeletal conditions, as well as inequities in COVID-19 outcomes across different ethnic groups in the UK, characterising heavy menstrual bleeding and drugs shortages, among others.
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2. Dr. Qingze Gu, NDORMS, University of Oxford
Title: Unveiling Ethnic Disparities in Rare Cardiometabolic Diseases: Insights from 58 Million Electronic Health Records
Abstract: Rare cardiometabolic diseases (CVD/MBD) pose significant diagnostic and management challenges, compounded by intersectional disparities in healthcare access and outcomes. Leveraging anonymised electronic health records (EHRs) from over 58 million individuals in England, this study characterises the prevalence, phenotypic diversity, and ethnic disparities of rare CVD/MBD across 250+ granular ethnicities. Initial results reveal over 1 million individuals with 406 rare disease phenotypes, categorised into cardiovascular, metabolic, mixed, and “other” subtypes. Ethnicity mapping demonstrated stark variations: while 80% of the cohort identified as White, granular analysis of 19 NHS primary care categories and 489 SNOMED-CT codes uncovered distinct patterns. For example, South Asian and Black African subgroups exhibited higher cardiovascular rare disease burdens, whereas polymyalgia rheumatica disproportionately affected White British populations. These findings underscore the critical role of granular ethnicity data in identifying health disparities and tailoring care for marginalised groups.
Short Bio: Qingze Gu completed his DPhil in Clinical Medicine at the Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, in October 2024. He is a postdoctoral researcher working in the Planetary Health Informatics group. With a multidisciplinary background in biomedical data science and pharmacology, his research interest is in using routinely collected healthcare data to inform clinical decision-making.
