Training Future Leaders in Digital Health for AMR
Training Future Leaders in Digital Health for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): New one week course “R for AMR Epidemiologists” for the UK Health Security Agency
R for AMR Epidemiologists' Digital Health Hub for AMR course at UCL.
Last week our EPSRC Digital Health Hub for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) ran a very successful new ‘R for AMR Epidemiologists’ course for the UK Health Security Agency.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is the government agency responsible for England-wide public health protection and infectious disease capability. Upskilling future leaders with the data science and digital health skills to improve AMR surveillance and stewardship is a key priority of our Hub.
The 5-day course had 39 attendees from different roles within UKHSA, with a waiting list reflecting significant demand. Course content was co-created by Professor Ingemar Cox UCL, Simon Thelwall UKHSA, Samantha Ahern and Milan Malfait (both UCL Centre for Advanced Research Computing), to meet national AMR surveillance needs. The course was delivered by Samantha Ahern and Milan Malfait with assistance from ARC colleagues Angharad Green and Deveraj Gopinathan.
Dr Colin Brown, UKHSA, who oversees UKHSA’s activities for the UK’s National Action Plan on AMR and co-leads the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on AMR and Health Care Associated Infections, said: “We are increasingly moving to open-source methods of data analysis using R as a main tool in automated data processes, bespoke analysis, and in sharing our methods widely. Many university courses where our staff gain their training are based on traditional statistical packages that are both expensive and limited in ability to interact with our new data platforms: this course is a fantastic opportunity for them to learn new ways to transform, shape, and analyse our large-scale data with newer packages that are commonplace across the globe.”
Other participant feedback said “the best course I’ve been on since finishing my Masters course and in nearly 10 years of working! I finally feel like I have the base knowledge to start my journey with using R at work” and “the course helped me build a strong foundation in the basics of R and different R packages.”
Co-organiser of the course, Simon Thelwall (UK HSA) said: “Combining R for statistics with SQL for data extraction and git for version control forms a powerful nexus for conducting data analysis in a modern and reliable manner. This course addresses a substantial gap in the training of epidemiologists and provides a foundation on which greater skills can be built.”
Professor Ingemar Cox, co-organiser of the course (UCL Computer Science) said: “The course was collaboratively designed by both the UKHSA and UCL’s ARC. This was a key to its success.”
We would like to extend a very big thanks to Jo McHugh (Hub project manager) and Dr Da Huang (UCL Research Fellow) for organising all the logistics and to Samantha Ahern UCL ARC and Milan Malfait for co-delivering the excellent programme.
Stay up to date with similar training and other opportunities via our Digital Health Hub for AMR Skills and Funding pages. Get in contact if you have suggestions for further bespoke training courses. We are always open to new collaborations!
https://www.digitalamr.org