Digital technology is now being used in all areas of healthcare, from research, to the doctor’s office, to the operating room and beyond. With huge volumes of data being generated as a product and function of this digitisation, the potential for better use of Big Data to drive research, innovation and efficiencies in health, care and the life sciences is vast. Improvements in predictions of patient outcomes, operational efficiencies through better allocation of resources, more tailored interventions - the list goes on.

However, with already great sources of inequity in existing health systems, concerted efforts must be made to ensure that existing inequalities are not worsened, and that new sources of inequity are not introduced through this digitisation. Data science, when appropriately developed and deployed, has the potential to target inequities and reduce disparities. But this is unlikely to occur without explicit efforts and attention directed towards issues of quality,…