2024-2028: SHIELD: Strategic Health Initiatives for Effective Disease Prevention

The prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases is forcing countries to consider different initiatives aimed at reducing the burden and impact of these diseases. In this sense, SHIELD pioneers an innovative approach to preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes (T2DM) at all stages of disease and considering the strong relationship among them. Utilizing advanced AI, SHIELD offers personalized interventions following a hierarchical model based on patients’ risk profiles. These profiles are continuously assessed through risk stratification and disease progression tools, leading to low, moderate, and high-risk layers, each requiring distinct prevention strategies, from halting disease progression to preventing relapse and complications. Initial risk assessment will include genetics, demographics, socio-economic status, environment, behavior, and medical conditions, using datasets like SHARE or ELSA, and retrospective hospital data (4,500+ patients). Later-stage disease analysis will also entail polypharmacy, treatment adherence, wearables, psychosocial factors, PROMs, and PREMs, allowing for individualized interventions and real-time alerts for professionals through the SHIELD dashboard. SHIELD also prioritizes the quality and security of these data, creating a standardized data homogenization model and federated learning approach to keep sensitive data locally. Transparency is provided through explainable ML tools. Interventions are accessible via mobile apps, providing resources, recommendations, education, and local services. Optimization algorithms enhance user engagement, and a chatbot, trained on patient data, offers continuous support with professional oversight. SHIELD will be validated in 3 pilots (Spanish, Italian, Swiss), involving more than 2,300 individuals along 2 years. The aim is to get knowledge on the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of the prevention strategy proposed by SHIELD and to get insights for effective primary prevention pathways with population-wide impact.

CALL: HORIZON-HLTH-2024-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage

Consortium

Hi Iberia Ingenieria Y Proyectos (ES) (coordinator), Servicio Madrileno De Salud (ES), Universidad Politecnica De Madrid (ES), Consorzio Per La Ricerca Nell’ Automatica E Nelle Telecomunicazioni C.R.A.T. (IT), Universita Degli Studi Di Bari Aldo Moro (IT), Quavlive Srl (IT), University Of Limerick (IE),  University of Geneva & University of Geneva Hospitals (CH)

Swiss Principal Investigators

University of Geneva, Switzerland
Prof. Katarzyna Wac, GSEM, CUI, QoL Technologies Lab Director

University of Geneva Hospitals & University of Geneva, Switzerland
Prof. Zoltan Pataky, MD, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Nutrition and Therapeutic Patient Education WHO Collaborating Centre, Deputy head physician, University of Geneva Hospitals & Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva
Dr. Jorge Correia, MD, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Nutrition and Therapeutic Patient Education WHO Collaborating Centre, University of Geneva Hospitals & Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva
Prof. Christian Lovis, Director, Division of Medical Information Sciences, University of Geneva Hospitals & Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva

We are hiring!

Study recruitment: TBC, the project starts end of 2024 or 1 jan 2025 the latest.