Pioneering health data linkage: Professor Ronan Lyons’ impactful career

19 March

In the rapidly evolving field of health data science, Professor Ronan Lyons stands as an international leader.

He was awarded an OBE in 2021 for services to research, innovation and public health, is a Fellow Academy of Medical Sciences, Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW), Member of Academia Europaea, Honorary Consultant in Public Health with Public Health Wales NHS Trust and Adjunct Professor at Monash University, Australia.

He is also a Senior Research Leader at Health and Care Research Wales and as Co-Director of the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, spearheading initiatives that have made Wales a model for health data linkage globally.

On SAIL, Professor Lyons said: “It's now recognised as a world leader in this field, which is wonderful. Anybody who's anything to do with data linkage internationally, knows about the SAIL databank and the fantastic contribution it has made to a very wide range of policy, public health and clinical research questions.”

A unique career

Now Professor of Public Health at Swansea University, his 40 year background spans clinical medicine, public health, epidemiology and data science, giving him a varied and in-depth perspective on the practical and theoretical aspects of health data science.

His own research has focused on using linked data to answer pressing health questions, informing policy decisions and improving healthcare outcomes. Since 2007 this has included using data from SAIL databank to inform the evidence base for many decisions.

Professor Lyons was involved in a project that did this during the COVID-19 pandemic, with funding from UKRI MRC to link 47 different dataset on the Welsh population to understand the spread of the virus, which groups became unwell and the effectiveness of counter measures. This was the most in depth data linkage study conducted across the UK.

This had a wide-ranging impact, as Professor Lyons said: “These analyses fed into decision making by Welsh Government and UK Government at a time which helped reduce the impact of the pandemic on the population.”

SAIL Databank serves as a ‘model’ worldwide

Established in 2007, SAIL enables researchers from across the world to access anonymised health data for the Welsh population, supporting studies on everything from mental health to infectious diseases.

Starting with funding from Health and Care Research Wales, it has moved from a niche field when there were “only a handful of people involved” to a respected scientific endeavour with hundreds of researchers involved.

The depth of data available in SAIL surpasses that held elsewhere, allowing researchers to answer complex questions more swiftly and thoroughly than in larger regions.

SAIL’s impact extends well beyond Wales, serving as a model for other countries developing data linkage possibilities. The databank has received numerous requests from organisations worldwide eager to collaborate and replicate its success, including from Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Singapore. SAIL also holds a growing amount of data across the UK and the underlying Secure eResearch Platform manages data across 28 UK and international research platforms.

Professor Lyons said: “I think we have the greatest breadth of data available in almost any system in the world and we're continually expanding the types of data that are available to enable more and more research to be conducted in a very efficient manner.

“We were recognised by lots of different bodies and most recently we were recognised with the Queen's Anniversary Prize award, which was very pleasing.”

Young people coming into to data linkage is “wonderful to see”

In his role as a Senior Research Leader with Health and Care Research Wales, Professor Lyons provides strategic guidance on the use of data to address public health issues.

The role also involves nurturing the next generation of health data scientists.

Professor Lyons said: “The young people who've come into this now and are developing careers in research using the link data and answering them important societal questions - it's wonderful to see.”

This includes SAIL’s internship programme, which has been running for five years and offers students hands-on training in health data research with a Welsh focus.

Professor Lyons believes that smaller regions like Wales have unique advantages in health data research, as close-knit professional networks make it easier to collaborate with government and health departments.

This helps to drive the field forward and benefits researchers and patients alike.

He added: “Around the world, the countries that have done best on data linkage are the smaller ones.”

Professor Lyons’ impact is felt not only in the depth of data linkage in Wales but also in the growing community of researchers he has inspired to carry the field forward.