Nora Fritschi pursues her academic activities as part of a bridge professorship. In addition to her work as an assistant professor at the University of Lucerne, she works as a senior physician at the Children's Hospital of Central Switzerland at the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital. In her presentation on “Enhancing Person-Centered Medicine of Children and Adolescents through the Integration of Research into Clinical Care”, she presented a clinical study that investigated the prevalence of Lyme disease antibodies in children and adolescents in a hospital setting. A special feature of the study was that the collection of the necessary blood samples could be integrated into the hospital's work processes. Blood taken during other examinations could be systematically tested for Lyme disease antibodies with the consent of the parents. In her future research, Nora Fritschi will continue to focus on issues at the interface between clinical practice and academic research, such as the evaluation of vaccination data or the description of the clinical presentation of children with rare infectious diseases.

In his presentation “From Pixels to Patients: Bridging the Gap Between AI and Clinical Practice”, Christian Baumgartner provided the audience with an overview of the current use of AI applications in medicine and his research projects in this area. The trend towards the use of AI is currently manifesting itself primarily in radiology imaging procedures. As an example, an application was presented that shows live which part of the body is currently being displayed when using ultrasound during pregnancy. Christian Baumgartner emphasized the importance of creating interfaces between humans and technology, through which mutual communication and interaction can take place. For example, so that when an AI application is used, the final decision can be made by a human. His future research work will continue to focus on how artificial intelligence can be used more effectively and safely in medicine.

“Functioning Epidemiology in the Age of AI: novel methods to improve people's well-being” - Adrian Martinez de la Torrre introduced the topic by explaining exactly what his field of ‘Functioning Epidemiology’ is all about. A growing number of researchers are committed to integrating the concept of functioning as a new indicator of health into healthcare systems alongside morbidity and mortality (see this news item). Epidemiology studies the spread, causes and consequences of diseases in the population. His field is concerned with researching the relationships and interactions between the level of functioning of the population and the onset of disease. In his current and future work, he will investigate these issues by statistically analyzing large data sets and applying new methods.

The presentation “Breaking silos, building bridges: Interprofessional approaches to strengthen primary care” focused on “silos” in primary care and how these can be overcome. The term silo stands for separate ways of thinking or professional perspectives on the one hand, but also for structural barriers such as fragmented patient data that cannot be accessed across institutional boundaries on the other. Different funding models in the health and social care sector also contribute to the creation of such silos. According to Thekla Brunkert, the good thing about these silos is that they are man-made and therefore fundamentally surmountable. A new approach to the care of older people with multiple illnesses (multimorbidity) by interprofessional teams is currently being investigated in the AdvantAGE research project. With the involvement of advanced practice nurses, the study offers promising approaches for eliminating gaps in care, such as those that arise in the critical phase following a hospital stay. Intensive follow-up care is essential in these phases, particularly for older people in a fragile state of health.