Data4Life and Monash Health Partner to Advance Clinical Research with Open-Source RWD Platforms
核心洞察
Data4Life (搜索) and Monash Health signed a Memorandum of Understanding to optimize clinical trial design, execution, and patient recruitment.
The collaboration combines Monash Health's clinical research expertise with Data4Life (搜索)'s open-source platforms, D4L Collect and Data2Evidence, built on HL7 FHIR and OMOP Common Data Model.
Monash Health, Victoria's largest public health service, maintains 1,600 active studies including 600 first-in-human and phase 2 trials.
Monash Health, the largest public health service in Victoria, Australia, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Data4Life (搜索), an international nonprofit digital health organization funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation (搜索). The announcement was made by Associate Professor Tam C. Nguyen, Director of Research & Innovation at Monash Health, and Tim Walz, Chief of Staff at Data4Life, at the Launch of the Monash Health Global Relations Office, with Monash Health Chief Executive Prof. Eugine Yafele and Global Victoria CEO Danni Jarrett in attendance.
The Global Relations Office is a newly launched site at Monash Health designed to strengthen international health partnerships, building alliances with leading international hospitals, universities, and health organisations for research, training, and knowledge exchange.
Scope of the Collaboration
Under the MoU, Monash Health will support the alliance's clinical trials through optimized trial timelines and patient enrolment, helping to achieve fast and effective subject recruitment. Data4Life (搜索) will streamline clinical trial processes, collaborate on patient recruitment activities, and support the secondary use and standardisation of health data through open science and common data models, alongside professional training in Good Clinical Practice (GCP), study conduct, and other areas of clinical research.
Monash Health provides care for 1.2 million residents through 250 integrated services delivered across more than 40 locations and communities in southeast Melbourne, including statewide tertiary support for complex women's, neonatal, and paediatric care. Its research portfolio comprises 1,600 active studies, including 600 first-in-human (FIH) and phase 2 trials and observational studies. Monash Health also operates two paediatric and two adult clinical trial centres, supported by two ethics committees/IRBs covering both paediatric and adult studies.
"Monash Health is an institution that brings exceptional clinical depth. With over 175 years of experience and decades of longitudinal records, it is a world-leading partner for such a collaboration. Data4Life (搜索) is committed to providing Monash Health's teams with the tools and expertise required to perform federated studies, cross-border comparisons, and reproducible real-world evidence as efficiently as possible," said Dr. Ben M.W. Illigens, CEO of Data4Life.
Technology Platforms
The collaboration brings together Monash Health's clinical research expertise with Data4Life (搜索)'s scientific and technical expertise and open-source software platforms, D4L Collect and Data2Evidence, built on HL7 FHIR and the OMOP Common Data Model, respectively.
D4L Collect is a platform for collecting prospective, multimodal health data in clinical and epidemiological studies through a secure researcher workspace and participant mobile app. It supports patient-reported outcomes (PROs), questionnaires, wearable and sensor data, and other health data in HL7 FHIR format. D4L Collect workflows are designed to support decentralized data collection, conforming with GCP and ICH E6(R3) requirements.
Data2Evidence is an integrated Real-World Data (RWD) platform, designed for standardization and analysis of healthcare data, and reproducible Real-World Evidence (RWE) generation. It combines ETL mapping, quality assessment, cohort definition, OHDSI analytics, secure governance, and supporting federated studies in one platform, reducing manual processes and time to evidence.
Broader Initiatives
Beyond clinical trials, both organizations will expand their collaboration through knowledge exchange, workshops, training programmes, and other joint initiatives. Tim Walz has been invited to Monash Health's Research and Innovation Week 2026 (7–11 September), where he will discuss the collaboration's progress to date and the strategy ahead.
Data4Life (搜索) develops open-source clinical research software built on internationally recognized standards, including FHIR and OMOP CDM. Its federated approach enables collaboration across distributed data sources while preserving patient privacy and data sovereignty, as well as supporting security, governance, and regulatory requirements across jurisdictions. The organization is headquartered in Potsdam, with offices in Berlin and Singapore, and partners with leading academic and healthcare institutions including Mount Sinai, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and the Hasso Plattner Institute. As co-lead of OHDSI Germany, Data4Life contributes open-source software and technical expertise, supports OMOP CDM adoption, and participates in network studies and collaborative research across borders.