October 6, 2021, (Cambridge, MA) ― The University of California, Irvine, (UCI) home to the Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences and Orange County’s only academic health system, today announced a new, five-year strategic partnership with Syntropy, a technology company specializing in healthcare data governance, harmonization, and collaboration solutions aimed at creating an industry-leading resource to transform how UCI Health Affairs and other health research and care organizations are able to integrate and contextualize health data. This strategic collaboration evolves from a natural synergy between both organizations in their mission to improve the delivery of patient care through better utilization of data.

The partnership brings to life the UCI Health Affairs vision of seamlessly connecting clinical-, research- and patient-reported data across the entire research enterprise. Syntropy, powered by Foundry, is enabling campus-wide initiatives as a central resource to more efficiently arm researchers with access to the essential data they need to ultimately pave the way for better insight generation and more personalized patient care. Sharing data in this trusted and secure environment can lead to a “network effect” that creates augmented insights derived from real-world data. This effect paves the way for opportunities to partner with external organizations to drive scientific innovation.

“We are excited to be forging strategic partnerships in support of the future of personal and public health discovery, learning and healing,” said Dr. Steve Goldstein, UCI’s Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. “Data-driven health intelligence is central to the future of good health and optimized care. Indeed, precision health initiatives are at the leading-edge of our work – which encompasses cross-disciplinary research and teaching in the College of Health Sciences and the interprofessional, integrated, patient-centered care we provide at UCI Health.”

“Recent studies show healthcare data is growing 36 percent annually, and yet we estimate that roughly six to eight percent of that data is used by providers to make healthcare decisions, and less than one percent of it is used by patients to guide their own health decision making,” said Tom Andriola, UCI’s Vice Chancellor of Information Technology and Data and Chief Digital Officer. “Our vision is to unlock that data securely, curate it to be more accessible and usable, and really move the needle on health outcomes – for all populations. At UCI, the Collaboratory for Health and Wellness will bring together health data, patient-reported data and basic science research integrated with deep subject matter expertise for an intelligence-driven approach to understanding disease and creating solutions for patients and clinicians that truly embody precision healthcare. Syntropy came in as we were ready to bring this vision to life.”

“When we met with the UCI Health Affairs team, it was clear that their commitment to collaboration in the name of scientific innovation and improving patient outcomes aligned with the future we hope to enable in the healthcare industry,” said James Kugler, Director of Syntropy. “Syntropy represents a data integration and analytics environment that enables UCI (and others) to contextualize and analyze infinitely diverse data types securely across their entire ecosystem. This not only supports their work with patients but empowers their research enterprise and positions their data to be valuable for collaborations with external partners to advance the science and practice of healthcare.”

UCI and Syntropy are creating an innovative model for how health organizations approach collecting and transforming insights from health data. The collaboration will also support the work done by leading physicians and scientists within the enterprise by enabling better population health management and advancing care to underrepresented populations.

“As we explore data more globally at UCI, having a partner and technology solution to support our efforts is critical in driving innovative changes in how we treat each patient from the moment they set foot on our campus,” said Dr. Daniel Chow, co-director of the Center for AI in Diagnostic Medicine.

To learn more about the partnership between Syntropy and UCI, visit: www.syntropy.com and www.uci.edu.

About the University of California, Irvine
Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

About Syntropy
Syntropy is a technology company specializing in healthcare data governance, harmonization, and collaboration solutions aimed at unlocking the value of real-world data. Syntropy empowers health care providers, researchers, and collaborators to derive insights from every point of data they collect and generate in a secure, compliant, and ethical manner. Syntropy is a partnership between EMD Digital Inc., a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (DAX:MKGAF), and Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR). Foundry is a licensed trademark of Palantir. Syntropy is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.