diff --git a/Framework/Core/src/DataProcessingDevice.cxx b/Framework/Core/src/DataProcessingDevice.cxx
index b062f2bf68a75..36545e281bd55 100644
--- a/Framework/Core/src/DataProcessingDevice.cxx
+++ b/Framework/Core/src/DataProcessingDevice.cxx
@@ -212,9 +212,8 @@ DataProcessingDevice::DataProcessingDevice(RunningDeviceRef running, ServiceRegi
   });
 }
 
-// Callback to execute the processing. Notice how the data is
-// is a vector of DataProcessorContext so that we can index the correct
-// one with the thread id. For the moment we simply use the first one.
+// Callback to execute the processing. Receives and relays data (doPrepare)
+// happens on the main thread before this is queued, so we only dispatch here.
 void run_callback(uv_work_t* handle)
 {
   auto* task = (TaskStreamInfo*)handle->data;
@@ -223,7 +222,6 @@ void run_callback(uv_work_t* handle)
   auto& dataProcessorContext = ref.get<DataProcessorContext>();
   O2_SIGNPOST_ID_FROM_POINTER(sid, device, &dataProcessorContext);
   O2_SIGNPOST_START(device, sid, "run_callback", "Starting run callback on stream %d", task->id.index);
-  DataProcessingDevice::doPrepare(ref);
   DataProcessingDevice::doRun(ref);
   O2_SIGNPOST_END(device, sid, "run_callback", "Done processing data for stream %d", task->id.index);
 }
@@ -1333,6 +1331,10 @@ void DataProcessingDevice::Run()
       handleRegionCallbacks(mServiceRegistry, mPendingRegionInfos);
     }
 
+    // Receive and relay incoming data on the main thread so that I/O
+    // overlaps with computation running concurrently on work threads.
+    DataProcessingDevice::doPrepare(ref);
+
     assert(mStreams.size() == mHandles.size());
     /// Decide which task to use
     TaskStreamRef streamRef{-1};