There is an increasing demand for distributed health care systems. Nevertheless, distributed health care environments do not come without risks. At the same time that distributed health care systems are growing, so are the cybersecurity threats targeting them. Additionally, the demand for compliance to new regulations increases as these distributed health care systems hold sensitive patient data. The use of data-driven technologies presents a promising opportunity for significant advances in the field toward improved health care for patients and the general public.[1] [2] Several recent studies have highlighted the importance and the necessity of developing a data-driven approach where patient data are collected, analyzed, and leveraged for medical research purposes with the help of different types of artificial intelligence. To address the privacy-related challenges, novel methods, such as protection of personal health information, ensuring compliance, guaranteeing FAIR information processing, and building of trust, are required. In this issue, new paradigms and prominent applications are presented for secure, trustworthy, and privacy-preserving data sharing and knowledge representation to address the emerging needs.

Received: 13 January 2022

Accepted: 14 January 2022

Article published online:
19 August 2022

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