On 1 and 2 November 2018, the Radboudumc New Frontiers Congress takes place in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The first day is about the way big data changes healthcare.

With new scientific insights and increasing technological possibilities medical research is rapidly changing. Increased computer capacity, availability of data and connectivity between databases have propelled the development of fields such as multi-omics, network medicine and computational medicine. Insights derived from the application of these new methodologies change the way we look at diseases: what once was one disease increasingly turns out to be a collection of rare entities with their own etiology, diagnosis and treatment. Vice versa, we begin to understand how health and disease are inherently multiscale phenomena that emerge out of complex and dynamic interactions within and between a person and his environment. Technologies like lab on a chip and self measurement with all kinds of sensors change the way we collect data to make a diagnosis and the way we monitor diseases. At the same time, healthcare has seen a strong fragmentation leading to a more complex healthcare delivery and organization.

In this context, the topic of this conference is to explore what big data and healthcare data science have to offer for personalized healthcare:

What is the potential promise of big data application to healthcare

What are examples of successful application of data science

What are the technical, organizational, ethical and epistemological limitations of the application of data science in the field of health

Will big data help to bridge the divide between medicine-as-a-science and medicine-as-an-art. and improve the individuel patient journey?