Inaugural Lecture, Professor Sabine van der Veer
Inaugural Lecture, Prof Sabine van der Veer - 14 May 2026
Digital health and person-centred care: aligning technology with people and practice
Date/time: Thursday, 14 May 2026, 4-5pm followed by drinks reception
Venue: Dalton Room, Core Technology Facility, 46 Grafton St, Manchester M13 9WU
Digital technology increasingly shapes how people access and experience health care. Electronic health records, patient portals, and health apps are now part of routine care for many, influencing how patients and healthcare professionals communicate, share information, and make treatment decisions.
One key opportunity of digital technology is that it enables patients to share information about their symptoms, wellbeing, and treatment responses in new ways. This can support them in playing a more active role in their care and in becoming more equal partners in decision-making. But it can also add to professionals’ workload, disrupt established patient-professional interactions, and, for some patients, make it harder rather than easier to get the care they need.
In this lecture, Prof Van der Veer argues that academic research has a central role in helping us understand and navigate these trade-offs. She will first outline how health care has digitised over recent decades, with a particular focus on technologies that shape interactions between patients and professionals. She will then situate digitisation within the broader move toward person-centred care, highlighting the synergies and tensions between these parallel and ongoing developments. Finally, she will examine what we currently know, and what remains uncertain, about how to digitise health care in ways that align with the needs, preferences, and capabilities of patients and professionals.
Speaker
Prof Sabine van der Veer
Role: Professor of Health Informatics
Organisation: FBMH, School of Health Sciences, Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Science
Travel and Contact Information
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Dalton Room
Core Technology Facility
Manchester
