Ana Teresa Freitas, professor, President of DEI and researcher at INESC-ID, has published an article in the newspaper ECO, in which she reflects on the importance of the appropriate collection and handling of data in modern medicine.

Starting with a short story, Professor Ana Teresa Freitas explains how a genetic mutation initially considered benign may, years later, be recognised as the cause of a rare disease as scientific knowledge evolves. Through this example, she highlights the importance of health data being continuously updated and validated by experts for the training of artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

In the article, she also notes that federated data sharing makes it possible to bring together information from hospitals in different countries without centralising patients’ data, thereby strengthening privacy. She further explains that infrastructures such as Trusted Research Environments (TREs), combined with additional protection techniques, make it possible to analyse this data securely.

She concludes by emphasising that investment in the creation and maintenance of these types of infrastructures is crucial to achieving increasingly personalised and effective medicine.

The article is available HERE.