École Polytechnique and Sanofi Inaugurate a Health Data Sponsorship Program

13 Nov 2020 | Network Updates | Update from Sanofi
These updates are republished press releases and communications from members of the Science|Business Network

Created to address technological developments and data issues in the medical field, the "Numerical Innovation and Data Science for Healthcare" sponsorship program is inaugurated, today, by Olivier Bogillot (President of Sanofi France), Yves Laszlo (Provost of École Polytechnique), and Jean-Paul Cottet (Executive Director of the École Polytechnique Foundation). The research and teaching aspects of the program create a link between machine learning, statistical modeling, and medicine.

The use of Artificial Intelligence for database analysis has gradually been adopted by the medical world in recent years. The “Numerical Innovation and Data Science for Healthcare” sponsorship program seeks to further develop these analytical methods and test their applications. Inaugurated today by Olivier Bogillot (President of Sanofi France), Yves Laszlo (Provost of École Polytechnique), and Jean-Paul Cottet (Executive Director of the École Polytechnique Foundation), this sponsorship program combines the excellence of two research labs at École Polytechnique with the expert knowledge of its patron.
 
The objective of the program, jointly led by Étienne Minvielle, CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) Research Director at the Center for Management Studies (I3-CRG)[1], Professor at École Polytechnique, and Doctor at the Gustave Roussy Center, and Marc Lavielle, Research Director at Inria (French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology) at the Center for Applied Mathematics (CMAP)[2] and Professor at École Polytechnique, is to develop tools for modeling and statistical learning to help improve the patient experience in the healthcare system.
 
With the vision of its patron, Sanofi, present on the international medical scene, and the appeal to Life Sciences of the two research labs involved, the program benefits from a unique environment for cross-cutting research. The program will have access to large biological databases in order to help improve the patient experience in the healthcare system, including by developing algorithms to identify patient sub-groups for adapting treatments and better customizing the patient’s experience.
 
The courses of the sponsorship program are integrated into several programs at École Polytechnique such as the Ingénieur Polytechnicien Program or the Master 2 level “Mathematics for Life Sciences” or “Data Science” programs. For example, in the second year of the Ingénieur Polytechnicien Program, several collective scientific projects on the topic will be offered to students, and the courses will cover a variety of topics such as the application of data science techniques to health or the modeling of biological phenomena such as epidemics.  
 
Bringing together key players from the worlds of data science and health, the teaching and research aspects of the “Numerical Innovation and Data Science for Healthcare” sponsorship program will help to serve all parties, by improving the patient experience and developing the use of AI in this field.
 
About the Heads of the Sponsorship Program:
 
Étienne Minvielle
 
Expert in patient experience management, Étienne Minvielle is a CNRS Research Director at the Center for Management Studies (I3-CRG), Professor at École Polytechnique, and Doctor at the Gustave Roussy Center. Author of more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, his research focuses on the contribution of digital and big data processing in health, and more recently on the impact of COVID-19 on hospital management. His work has led him and Marc Lavielle to head the “Numerical Innovation and Data Science for Healthcare” sponsorship program since its creation in December 2019.
 
Marc Lavielle
 
Inria Research Director at the head of Xpop, a joint research team between Inria and École Polytechnique at the Center for Applied Mathematics (CMAP), since 2016, Marc Lavielle has received two international awards for his research studying pharmacology and pharmacodynamics from a statistical perspective. He has also been a Professor at École Polytechnique since 2016 and has coached 11 theses. Member of the High Council on Biotechnology, he has led the “Numerical Innovation and Data Science for Healthcare” sponsorship program with Étienne Minvielle since its creation in December 2019.  
 
Olivier Bogillot
 
Olivier Bogillot is President of Sanofi France and leads the actions of Sanofi France’s Strategic Committee. He represents the company for French health authorities and professional organizations. Doctor of Economics (from University Lyon I), he also holds a Master’s degree in Health Economics and Public Health as well as a degree in Molecular Biology and Physiology. He has been on the Board of Directors at Leem (the professional organization of drug companies operating in France) since October 2019 and has been President of the French Federation for Health Industries (FEFIS) since December 2019.

This article was first published on 13 November by Ecole Polytechnique.

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