Oracle Health and Life Sciences and Baylor College of Medicine have announced a major collaboration to advance research and clinical insights into alcohol-related liver disease (ALD), addressing one of the fastest-growing causes of liver-related illness and mortality in the United States.
Leveraging AI and Big Data for Medical Research
Through this partnership, Baylor plans to leverage Oracle Health's AI data platform and real-world data (RWD), which contains more than 120 million longitudinal anonymized patient records, to establish one of the nation's largest ALD cohorts. The ambitious scope of the project includes plans to increase the RWD cohort to more than one million patients to support comprehensive research efforts.
"Alcohol-related liver disease represents a critical public health challenge, and earlier identification is key to changing outcomes," said Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager of Oracle Health and Life Sciences. "With Oracle's robust data and analytics capabilities and Baylor's expertise in clinical research and patient care, we have the opportunity to help transform how this condition is studied, diagnosed, and treated."
Research Objectives and Methodology
Baylor researchers plan to utilize Oracle's comprehensive datasets and research-ready AI agents to uncover patterns, risk factors, and predictive markers of disease progression. The research is expected to lead to earlier identification of ALD, deepen understanding of disease progression, and ultimately inform more effective prevention and treatment strategies.
The goal is to empower clinicians with actionable insights that can improve patient outcomes while also supporting public health strategies to reduce the burden of ALD nationwide. This approach represents a significant shift toward data-driven medicine in addressing liver disease.
Clinical Significance and Public Health Impact
"Our work with Oracle represents an exciting opportunity to accelerate discovery and improve clinical practice in the era of digital medicine," said Dr. Hashem El-Serag, vice president for the Learning Health System Initiative and professor and chair of the Margaret M. and Albert B. Alkek Department of Medicine at Baylor. "By building one of the largest alcohol-related liver disease cohorts in the country, we're not only creating a critical research resource, but also advancing the potential to intervene earlier and more effectively for patients at risk."
Growing Disease Burden
Recent studies indicate that alcohol-related liver disease has been on the rise in the U.S., with increasing prevalence among younger populations. This trend underscores the urgent need for improved understanding and intervention strategies for this condition.
The collaboration between Oracle Health and Baylor is designed to combine the power of advanced health technology with leading academic research to tackle these urgent health challenges, potentially transforming how ALD is studied, diagnosed, and treated in clinical practice.
