Cancer Central’s AI platform, Ave, launches to boost cancer support

Avril Chester (CEO) hopes Cancer Central will make it easier for people affected by cancer to find the help required from diagnosis, to treatment and beyond.

After a year in the making, Cancer Central’s has launched its online platform which looks to intelligently signpost people affected by cancer to organizations who can provide advice and products.

The platform called Ave, powered by IBM Watson, underscores the growing use of data analytics and machine learning in the healthcare industry.

With Ave, people affected by cancer will be able to use conversational search to help users find relevant information while continuously learning based on interactions thanks to machine-learning capabilities.

In essence, Ave is a search engine that uses artificial intelligence to deliver proactive and personalized data real-time and is differentiated from other chabots in that it knows when to search for an answer from a knowledge base or when to ask for clarity making it very easy to use.

However to deliver such targeted outcomes, Ave needs data. Avril Chester explains " the challenge is finding out that these incredible businesses and charities who support individuals affected by cancer, do not appear on a single list”. So Cancer Central is seeking help to find organizations to register for free so that they can be found easily in a user's time of need.

Any organisations wishing to add their details to the service can do so on the website: https://www.cancercentral.org.uk/initRegisterProvider.jsf

In taking time to reflect on the journey so far, Avril said “with our first iteration live, it is beyond my wildest dreams” and “I am so incredibly grateful for all the support and help received” as this couldn’t have been achieved without over 10,000 hours being donated by 100+ individuals and 20+ organizations with major contributions from TechFINIUM and ROQ. This really speaks to the ethos of Cancer Central i.e. Cominovation connecting different fields across industries to achieve a common vision.

But with this said, Avril is not resting on laurels and therefore again partnering with volunteers to “understand valuable feedback” with the objective being to understand the good, what to change, where to go next and ultimately what the roadmap for 2019 should be in order to continue supporting those affected by cancer.

The things Avril is currently focusing on are:

• looking at the Information Provider sign up process to reduce the number of steps

• her social media strategy

• repeatable processes that volunteers can use when signing up Information Providers and

• design briefs for hackathons which are to be held in 2019

Additional Information:

• Cancer Central is looking for businesses and charities who support those affected by cancer to register on the site for free so that they can be found easily in time of need

• To follow and support the daily journey @CancerCentralUK on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

• Founder & CEO Avril Chester is a senior technology executive who was treated for breast cancer in 2015/16, she is author of ‘Be with me, it’s c’

• Cancer Central CIC is a Community Interest Company, registered in England No. 10733608


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About Cancer Central

Cancer Central is the first award winning HealthTech cancer platform using AI to guide people affected by cancer to find the support and information they need. A place for both cancer patients and their carers. A UK based charity (1202482) created from over 70,000 donated hours and founded by Avril Chester in 2018. Avril started her mission to create a centralised hub after noting disparate channels to find support for practical issues and services, such as hats, clothing, physical activity, financial advice & local support during her own diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer in 2015/16.


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