RESEARCHERS in Oxford will lead a global virtual 'study-a-thon' event to work on the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 290 people from 29 different countries have registered for the four-day online event, which starts tomorrow.

Researchers from the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, Oxford University are to lead the collaboration.

The aim is it will inform healthcare decision-making in response to the current global pandemic.

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Held in lieu of the cancelled Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) European Symposium, this event has two main goals.

The first is to generate immediate real-world evidence on prioritised questions shared by national governments, public health agencies, health-related institutions, and community members.

Secondly the aim is to design Covid-19-specific studies that can be validated and available to run when such data is available. Visit ohdsi.org.