Last month, global leaders in public health on a mission to redefine the landscape of public health, gathered in the vibrant city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the Public Health Asia 2025 conference. The conference serves as a catalyst for innovation, where the boundaries of public health are pushed, and new frontiers are explored.
In a SeRP-led pre-conference workshop entitled βππ²π§ππ‘πππ’π ππππ, ππ¨π¦π¦π¨π§ ππππ ππ¨πππ₯π¬ ππ§π π ππππ«πππ’π¨π§ β ππ¨π₯π² ππ«π’π§π’ππ² π¨π« ππ§π‘π¨π₯π² πππ¬π¬?β a full room of public health professionals, data scientists, and policy shapers gathered atΒ Monash University MalaysiaΒ for an in-depth workshop ahead of the conference.Β Together, attendees tackled one of the most pressing questions in todayβs public health research: βCan synthetic data, common data models (CDMs), and federated learning truly deliver scalable, ethical, and privacy-preserving solutions?β
πππ² π‘π’π π‘π₯π’π π‘ππ¬:
- A deep dive into synthetic data generation and its promise for research, education, and innovation in health.
- Case studies exploring real-world applications and ethical considerations.
- Practical sessions on mapping datasets to CDMs and solving interoperability headaches.
- Provocative discussions on federated data ecosystems, AI enablement, and governance challenges.
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πππ€πππ°ππ²π¬:
- CDMs like OMOP offer real opportunities for scalable, cross-border research.
- Synthetic data can improve data accessibility without compromising privacy.
- Federated models are promising but require careful handling of ethics and security.
- AI is a force multiplier but only when trust, fairness, and transparency are embedded by design.