An area of pioneering innovation at CHIP is federated networks, which enable decentralized approaches to data distributed across multiple sites. From our faculty’s early work with the Shared Pathology Information Network (the NCI-funded “Napster for pathology samples”) to the first demonstrations of federated research networks for biosurveillance, CHIP has been at the forefront of advancing these technologies. This work continued with the development of the Shared Health Research Information Network (SHRINE).
Our program has collaborated with academic medical institutions to establish globally scalable technologies, policies, and procedures for sharing genomic, phenotypic, and biospecimen data on broadly consented cohorts across sites of care. In partnership with sister institutions, we have developed two federated data-sharing networks: the Genomic Research and Innovation Network (GRIN), and the Genomic Information Commons (GIC). Through GIC, our faculty developed the world’s first query portal that provides a uniform interface for retrieving genomic data, phenotypic data, and biospecimen metadata in a single search.
Additionally, the Cumulus platform, built on the FHIR APIs developed by CHIP, enables healthcare organizations to securely run queries across local electronic health records using standardized data models. By leveraging cloud-based query federation, Cumulus supports large-scale population health studies without sharing individual patient information, facilitating broad public health insights while maintaining data privacy.
These technologies, policies, and procedures enable us to expand partnerships and scale federated data sharing on a global level.
Projects
Inspired by a common vision of accelerated genomic discovery, collaboration, and improved clinical outcomes, leaders at Boston Children's Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Washington University at St. Louis, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Le Bonheur Children's Hospital at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center have come together to create the Genomic Information Commons (GIC). Partially funded by NCATS, The GIC is a multi-institutional, federated, genomic data commons.
Cumulus is a federally funded platform, supported by ONC/ASTP, that enables secure, interoperable data federation across all sites of care through cloud-hosted EHR “side cars” and regulated, open standards-based APIs. Under the 21st Century Cures Act, all sites of care must support the SMART Bulk FHIR Access API, which Cumulus utilizes to seamlessly acquire both structured and unstructured clinical data at scale. Implemented with health systems and public health departments as part of the CDC Data Modernization Initiative, Cumulus integrates with a high-throughput large language model (LLM) pipeline to deliver comprehensive analytics and insights. In addition, it now connects the healthcare delivery system to the research enterprise via the ARPA-H Biomedical Data Fabric, fostering innovation, improving patient outcomes, and accelerating data-driven healthcare discovery.
4CE is an international consortium for electronic health record data-driven studies of the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this effort—led by the i2b2 international academics users group—is to inform doctors, epidemiologists and the public about COVID-19 patients with data acquired through the health care process.
