As healthcare systems face growing pressure from complex, high-burden diseases, the need for smarter, data-driven approaches has never been greater. At Ulster University’s School of Biomedical Sciences, Ross Murphy, Lecturer in Health Data Science, is using advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to improve how diseases are diagnosed, stratified and managed.
Integrating diverse patient data to improve disease understanding
A trained bioinformatician, Ross specialises in integrating multiple types of patient information, including clinical data, medical imaging, genomics and transcriptomics, to support biomarker discovery and the development of diagnostic and prognostic machine learning models.
His work focuses on understanding disease heterogeneity, where patients with the same diagnosis can experience very different outcomes and responses to treatment. By bringing together diverse data sources, Ross’s research aims to provide a more complete picture of disease biology and risk.
Advancing research in prostate cancer and hypertension
Ross is currently supervising two funded PhD studentships that apply multimodal data integration to major global health challenges.
One studentship, funded by the Department for the Economy (DfE), focuses on hypertension. This project integrates different forms of patient-derived data to enhance biomarker discovery for individuals with treatment-resistant hypertension and to develop machine learning models capable of identifying patients at risk of developing hypertension in the future.
The second studentship, funded by the Prostate Cancer Centre for Excellence (ProEx), investigates AI-driven image analysis of digital histopathology slides from prostate tumours. This research explores how information extracted from biopsy images using AI can be integrated with other patient data to better predict which patients are at higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
Addressing critical global health challenges
Prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed non-skin cancer worldwide and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men, with global mortality rates predicted to rise significantly over the coming decades. A key clinical challenge remains distinguishing indolent disease from potentially fatal cancer at the time of diagnosis.
Hypertension affects over one billion people globally and is the leading cause of premature death worldwide. Patient prognosis and treatment response are highly variable, and inappropriate management contributes to serious health consequences and significant costs for the NHS.
Across both conditions, Ross’s research addresses a shared challenge: the urgent need for improved diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers to support personalised disease management and better clinical decision-making.
Collaboration and data-rich cohorts for real-world impact
In collaboration with ProEx, Ross’s prostate cancer research draws on unique patient cohorts from Northern Ireland. These cohorts combine detailed clinical information, digitised histopathology slides from prostate biopsies, and gene expression profiling from tumour samples.
By integrating these rich datasets, Ross and his collaborators are generating insights with direct relevance to clinical practice, helping to inform risk stratification and treatment planning.
Transforming health through data futures
Ross’s work aligns closely with Ulster University’s research themes of Accelerating Data Futures and Transforming Health, demonstrating how advanced data science and AI can be applied responsibly to deliver meaningful improvements in patient care.
Through interdisciplinary collaboration and data-driven innovation, Ross Murphy is helping to shape the future of precision healthcare, where smarter use of data leads to better outcomes for patients.
