Antonella Delmestri

I am a data scientist with a background in computer science and software engineering at the Centre for Statistics in Medicine at NDORMS. I lead the Data Science group, which is responsible for the data harmonisation of real-world data (RWD) routinely collected by GPs, hospitals and registries, and used in observational research. I am a collaborator of EHDEN, OHDSI and DARWIN EU, and an expert in the OMOP common data model. I am an Alan Turing Fellow and I serve as member of the Turing Research Ethics panel.

My research is focussed on the impact of algorithmic automation on RWD processing, its role in the statistical pipeline and its impact on the medical research output. My main interests are:

• data harmonisation, data engineering, and data modelling of RWD
• assessment, evaluation and improvement of RWD
• measurement and enhancement of algorithmic complexity in the context of RWD processing
• research quality, ethics, reproducibility, consistency and transparency

BIOGRAPHY

I graduated in Computer Science at Udine University and completed my PhD in Information and Communication Technologies at Trento University, Italy. I have worked for several years in companies developing firmware and software for electronic devices.

In 2006 I moved to the U.K. to join the Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) at Oxford University. My biggest achievement in this role was the whole IT management of ATLAS (Adjuvant Tamoxifen Longer Against Shorter), a long-term early breast cancer randomised controlled clinical trial. ATLAS involved more than 15,000 women recruited from over 600 sites in more than 20 countries worldwide, and its findings on patients' survival and recurrence using 5 versus 10 years of Tamoxifen changed clinical practice in the UK and worldwide.

In 2013 I joined NDORMS to work on RWD science in the Epidemiology Unit. In 2018 I joined the European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN) collaboration and in 2019 I became responsible for OHDSI UK Data Science activities. In 2021 I was awarded an Alan Turing Fellowship. Since 2022 I act as data partner in the DARWIN EU initiative.