Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage – Use Cases, Approaches, and Implementation Scenarios

Linking sensitive health data across institutions is essential for advancing research in rare diseases while ensuring patient privacy and regulatory compliance. In this HELIOS and HemaFAIR webinar, Dr. Dieter Hayn introduces the principles, challenges, and practical applications of Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage (PPRL), a set of methods that enables secure data integration across distributed sources without exposing personally identifiable information. Privacy-preserving techniques allow researchers and clinicians to identify records belonging to the same individual while safeguarding confidentiality, trust, and ethical standards in biomedical research. In this webinar, participants will learn about: • The fundamentals of Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage (PPRL) and its importance in rare disease research • Key technical approaches, including cryptographic methods, hashing, and secure multi-party computation • Challenges in linking sensitive health data across institutions and jurisdictions • Real-world implementation scenarios and use cases in rare disease and clinical research This session provides an accessible introduction to secure health data linkage approaches that support collaborative and federated research while protecting patient privacy. Speaker: Dr. Dieter Hayn Organised by HELIOS COST Action CA22119 & HemaFAIR