When Apple wanted to provide data from its devices for medical research, it turned to cardiologist Calum MacRae, vice chair for scientific innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Five years ago, MacRae helped run a study that used anonymized data from iPhone and Apple Watch users to make connections between physical activity and heart health. The research showed, among other results, that physical activity could reduce the impact of aging on cardio fitness.

A new study will cover research ranging from improving sleep to warding off the effects of aging.

MacRae grew up in Scotland, coming to the Boston area in 1991 for a fellowship at Harvard.

The study data could be used to train artificial intelligence models. “Having a data stream like this is actually incredibly valuable,” MacRae says, “and would allow people to predict things that you might not have imagined otherwise.”

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Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.