Oracle Health and Life Sciences and Baylor College of Medicine have announced a collaboration aimed at advancing research and clinical understanding of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD), which is a leading cause of liver illness and death in the United States.
As part of this partnership, Baylor intends to use Oracle Health’s artificial intelligence data platform. This platform includes more than 120 million anonymized patient records, which will help Baylor establish one of the country’s largest ALD patient groups. The plan is to expand this group to over one million patients. The initiative seeks to improve early identification of ALD, enhance knowledge about how the disease progresses, and support efforts for better prevention and treatment strategies.
“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.”
Baylor researchers will work with Oracle’s datasets and AI tools to identify patterns, risk factors, and predictive markers related to ALD progression. The aim is to provide clinicians with useful insights that can lead to improved patient care as well as inform public health approaches addressing ALD nationwide.
“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.”
Studies show that alcohol-related liver disease rates are rising in the United States, especially among younger people. The joint effort between Oracle Health and Baylor College of Medicine combines advanced technology with academic research expertise in an attempt to address these pressing health concerns.
