NCMD and DeMaNDs data science seminar, 13th June 2025

NCMD and DeMaNDs data science seminar, 13th June 2025, via Teams: Max Taquet - Interrogating electronic health records data to accelerate brain healt

NCMD Joint Data Science Seminar with Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases (DemaNDs), Friday 13th June 2025, 12-1pm, 

Max Taquet is a clinical lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Oxford. His clinical work is in early intervention service. His academic interests involve analysing large-scale datasets to identify novel treatment strategies for psychiatric conditions, with a particular focus on the interface between physical and mental health. Before studying medicine, Max trained in electrical engineering and was a research fellow in radiology at Harvard Medical School where he did his doctoral research. Electronic health records (EHRs) offer an unprecedented opportunity to advance brain health research at scale and in real-world populations. In this talk, I will share how we have harnessed EHR data to generate new insights, repurpose existing treatments, and improve predictive tools in brain health. Drawing on a natural experiment in the USA, we found that the recombinant shingles vaccine is associated with a 17% longer dementia-free period over seven years compared to the live vaccine—suggesting a potential protective effect against cognitive decline. We have also defined a novel clinical phenotype—symptom instability— that predicts psychiatric hospitalisation across diagnoses, independently of clinical severity, offering a new lens for early intervention. Using an emulated target trial, we identified prucalopride, a drug (5-HT4 agonist) traditionally used for constipation, as a candidate therapy for depression. Furthermore, we provide evidence supporting the effect of GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic on cognition and addiction. Throughout, I will highlight key methodological considerations in using EHR data, particularly the distinction between correlation and causation, and discuss practical ways to enhance data quality at source. By addressing these challenges, we can better leverage EHRs to accelerate meaningful discoveries in brain health.

Join online via MS Teams: click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 388 430 428 998

Passcode: UZ3zC6s9