Pioneering Advancements in Technology by Eric Snyder of Wilmot Earns Nationwide Recognition

The University of Rochester's Wilmot Cancer Institute has made a significant stride in the digital health sector, with its Hyperion platform receiving the prestigious "gold" award at the 2024 National Digital Health Awards.

Developed by the institute, the Hyperion platform was designed to revolutionise the way cancer-related data is stored, maintained, and analysed. This achievement is a testament to the institute's commitment to advancing healthcare technology.

Eric Snyder, the director of Informatics at the Wilmot Cancer Institute, played a pivotal role in negotiating with Dell to establish Wilmot's own servers for the platform. Snyder's efforts have been recognised as he recently made three presentations at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2022 annual meeting, marking a significant milestone in his career.

The Health Information Resource Center (HIRC), which organises the Digital Health Awards, an extension of the HIRC’s National Health Information Awards, the largest program of its kind in the United States, bestowed the award upon the Wilmot Technology and Innovation Group.

The success of the Hyperion platform can be attributed to the diverse composition of the Wilmot IT team. Comprising members such as a math professor from a regional college, a machine-learning engineer with artificial intelligence expertise, and an individual with a Silicon Valley background in imaging processing, the team created a "spectacular new code" and streamlined the process for building the platform on social determinants of health.

The Wilmot IT team operates with a flat hierarchy, emphasising collaboration and diversity of thought. Every action on Wilmot data is meticulously monitored, and comprehensive auditing tools are reviewed weekly.

Hyperion was designed to find changes in the data warehouse in real-time and to reliably and accurately aggregate information from multiple sources with minimal human intervention. The platform enhances patient care, clinical trials, basic science, health equity, and Wilmot operations.

The Wilmot IT solutions employ enterprise-level data, including electronic medical records for cancer patients, and data from other Medical Center sources such as pathology. To safeguard this sensitive data, Snyder designed a custom security framework that sits atop the Medical Center's already robust IT security measures, with highly restricted access to Wilmot data requiring enhanced log-in procedures by job description.

Wilmot is part of the University of Rochester and its Medical Center, a health care system with IT infrastructure that connects education and research facilities, six hospitals, long-term and home care, and outpatient services. The Hyperion platform serves as a centralised, integrated medical analytics platform that powers all Wilmot Cancer Institute data and app innovations.

Among the Wilmot team's most significant achievements is the geospatial mapping tool called CANVAS, designed for the layman to study Wilmot's patient population and its unmet needs. As Snyder continues to make strides in the field, he aims to change the nation's thinking around information technology (IT) in health care.

IT professionals from across the U.S. have reached out to Snyder for advice on how to build a technical empire similar to Wilmot's. Snyder, alongside Wilmot IT co-leader Erika Ramsdale, M.D., an oncologist with a master's degree in data science, continues to pave the way for innovative digital health solutions.