Presentation
Established in 2008, the Bordeaux Population Health (BPH) research center is co-hosted by the University of Bordeaux and the French National Institute of health and medical research (INSERM)
The BPH brings together over 500 staff members with a common goal: to explore and address major public health challenges and priorities with a multidisciplinary perspective and robust methodological approaches. The BPH comprises 10 research teams, as well as a scientific coordination across teams covering (i) brain health across the lifecourse, (ii) data science (AI, omics, longitudinal data, real world data in pharmacoepidemiology and beyond), (iii) infectious diseases and preparedness, (iv) aging and resilience, and (v) environmental and social determinants of health, with research objects ranging from observational studies to interventions.
The tight collaboration of biostatisticians, data scientists, and computer scientists with epidemiologists and clinicians allows the rapid development and timely application of cutting-edge methods for analysis of epidemiological data. An important methodological focus since inception has been prediction modelling, leveraging high-dimensional biological information and machine learning algorithms. The BPH hosts several clinical trial platforms dedicated to clinical research in France and internationally.
Population neuroscience and global health are longstanding key components of the BPH with an extensive track record and numerous collaborations with clinicians at Bordeaux University Hospital and with middle- and low-income countries (international associated laboratory with Abidjan) respectively. In recent years there has been an increasing focus on developing precision population health approaches, leveraging large-scale molecular resources derived from cutting-edge biotechnologies, combined with deep phenotyping using AI approaches. Lately, the research spectrum was also expanded towards prevention and population health interventions, research on the impact and mitigation of social disparities on health across the life-course, and on strategies to improve health services. The centre is involved in public health surveillance, through the secondary use of large administrative databases (e.g. electronic health records, DRUGS-SAFEr center activities) and the coordination of disease registries (cancer, infectious, and cardio-neurovascular diseases).
Over the past decades, BPH researchers have created and followed up several large and deeply characterized cohort studies spanning across the age and clinical spectrum, both in a population-based and clinic-based setting (e.g. Three-City [N~10,000], Paquid [N~3,700], i-Share [N>20,000], MEMENTO [N=2,300], B3 [N~2,000], HIV Aquitaine [N>10,000], IeDEA [N>54,000], Agrican [N>180,000]…), with associated biobanks from which an increasingly wide variety of genomic and multi-omic biomarkers are derived. BPH researchers also have a leadership role in various world-class international consortia and clinical trials.
The center has a close relationship with the University of Bordeaux public health teaching and training structure, the ISPED (Institute of Public Health and Development) that attracts ~1000 students per year. It also hosts graduate schools in digital public health (including a joint master degree with McGill University) and in African transitions, as well as various international summer schools, reflecting its strong involvement in research-based teaching. The BPH is strongly committed to contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and to improving population health both locally and globally, embracing a comprehensive precision and global health approach targeting major health challenges, with a special focus on brain, vascular and infectious diseases, aging, and cancer. Several initiatives illustrate this, beyond the actual research being conducted, ranging from a privileged partnership with the Ban Ki-moon Center for Global Citizens to the active contribution to bottom-up initiatives, such as ACE climate-environment-action.
