Among the teams that make up the diverse community of ADAPT is PARADISE, PersonAlisation of RelApse risk in autoimmune DISEase, a collaborative project between the ADAPT Centre and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute. Launched officially in April 2023, this innovative project, spearheaded by Prof. Mark Little (ADAPT Principal Investigator at Trinity College Dublin), aims to create a personalised prediction tool to aid in the management of recurrent autoimmune diseases.
With partners spanning across various European institutions, PARADISE seeks to address the significant impact of autoimmune disease, which affects 10% of adults, and primarily women. These conditions not only have a very high cost globally but work to suppress the immune system, increasing patients’ susceptibility to infections and cancer risk over time.
PARADISE focusses on trying to predict the relapse of patients with the disease, vasculitis. The goal being to be able to tailor medication dosages or cease them altogether where appropriate.
Vasculitis as a disease has no bias. It is not contagious, it is not hereditary, it is not aligned to age – although usually seen after 40 years of age and does not bias a particular gender.
Recognising the growing scrutiny surrounding AI applications in the EU, PARADISE is developing an “AI transparency notice” to explicitly explain the clinical outputs of the PARADISE tools clinical outputs. To do this, PARADISE has engaged a group of patients, a group that is inclusive by gender, culture and age, to ensure that the science in PARADISE is transparent and explainable to the people that will benefit from it, the patients.
Working on the PARADISE project is Angel Mary George, a second year D-REAL PhD Student with the Department of Clinical Medicine and the ADAPT Centre, and one of PARADISE’s team members. Angel has found her involvement in this dynamic team to have contributed to her professional development:
“Working alongside machine learning, statistical, and data governance experts, as well as vasculitis clinicians from various regions of Europe, has been an incredible experience in developing this predictive tool. I have found that being a member of this diverse team has not only enriched me personally but also contributed significantly to my professional growth.”
On this International Women’s Day, PARADISE is proud to share that as a project they collectively #InspireInclusion by celebrating the many women leading and working on their project from women across Europe that are prominent in their patient advisory group, to their leadership and research teams.
PARADISE project leaders include:
Learn more about this project via their website here: https://paradise-project.eu/
