Data Access, Analysis and Coordination
In 2018, the Department of Biomedical Informatics (BMI) at The Ohio State University established a Biomedical Informatics Coordinating Center (BMICC) Working Group to expand capacity and outreach through collaborative research. The BMICC group included a diverse group of faculty and staff with experience in coordinating center activities. Expanding on the responsibilities and activities of the WG, the Data Access, Analysis & Coordination (DAAC) was established within the Center for Biostatistics in 2021. DAAC provides project and data management and coordination for a variety of funded research projects and grants in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Ohio State University and their collaborators. The primary objective of DAAC is to assist the study team in the design of data collection tools, data analysis, data storage solutions, the access to research data from sources like PCORnet, MarketScan, Electronic Health Records (EHR), and ongoing project management and coordination assistance. Neena Thomas, MS, MDBA is the Core Leader and she manages and oversees the activities and operations of DAAC.
Expertise
In accomplishing its mission of data and project management and coordination DAAC provides expertise in the following areas:
Data Management
- Database support and management - Organization, storage, and retrieval of data
- Registry Support and Management - Provide registry support and management for a variety of projects
- Query and Report Builds - Creation and maintenance of desired queries and/or reports, allowing the study team to regularly monitor data quality throughout the life of the study.
- Common Data Model design and implementation
- Data Dictionary - Assistance with the layout of the study data fields and data collection tools, enforcing best practices and standards
- Data consultation and access to PCORnet, MarketScan and EHR for research
- Honest Broker data requests (EPIC’s CLARITY, CABOODLE and Research Informatics certified analysts) v Identify Data Storage solutions in collaboration with Research Information Technology (RIT), Ohio Supercomputing Center (OSC) and Medcenter IT
Project Management
- Event planning - Plan and manage meetings, conferences, and retreats (including event infrastructure, audience, attendees, organizers, venue, and media) v DUA/DSA, CDA and Contracts implementation by liaising with GMO, OSP, TCO and legal teams at OSU v Clinical Trials liaison in coordination with CTO, CTMO, and CTSI.
- Contracts, Invoice and billing tracking and management - DAAC coordinates manages contracts (MOUs) between departments, and the team also manages and keeps track of invoices and billing.
- Design and set up processes - create solutions to operational issues to improve workflows.
- Internal and External Communications - Develop and manage agenda and meeting minutes; newsletters and educational webinars; posters, flyers, and brochures
- Subcommittee management - Create and manage subcommittees; create charters and governance documents
- Website management using Sitecore
Grant Submission Coordination
- Research administrative services to PIs and both internal and external collaborators
- Assist with the submission of Coordinating Center Grants / multi-site grants
- Coordination of proposal submissions
- Develop grant budgets and budget justifications
- Develop supporting documents
- Liaison with Grants Management Office for the proposals submission
- Prepare application packages for review and submission
- Liaison with vendors and other internal teams for project section/core support as needed
DAAC Staff
DAAC is comprised of a group of data analysts, informaticians and project managers who provides support and develops collaborative relationships with various OSUWMC divisions as well as OSU departments. DAAC staff work on funded projects/contracts (MOUs) or provide support on an hourly basis for smaller projects. For a full listing of staff please see “Our People” in the CFB page. For more information about DAAC, email biostatistics@osumc.edu.
Collaborations and Projects
· PCORnet is a national resource that offers the kind of research ecosystem that has long been pursued: a fully integrated network where vast, highly representative health data, research expertise, and patient insights are built-in and accessible from the very start.
· PaTH utilizes Patient Empowered Research to address the questions and concerns that matter most to our communities in order to make better health decisions. It is a Clinical Research Network comprised of 13 institutions.
· The RECOVER Consortium Initiative brings together patients, caregivers, clinicians, community leaders, and scientists from across the nation to understand, prevent, and treat PASC, including Long COVID.
· The COVID-19 electronic healthcare data initiative project is a national disease surveillance project that demonstrates PCORnet sites’ ability to collect information on COVID data through the implementation of a nationally distributed data infrastructure. The collection of these COVID-19 data help to answer critical questions to assist in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
· Pragmatic non-Cancer Clinical Trials via PCORnet PREVENTABLE (Pragmatic Evaluation of Events and Benefits of Lipid-Lowering in Older Adults), ADAPTABLE(Aspirin Dosing: A Patient-centric Trial Assessing Benefits and Long-Term Effectiveness) in collaboration with CTMO and HOMES and Pragmatic Cancer Clinical Trials NET-Pro, ODYSSEY in collaboration with CTO.
· The Coordinating Center for the Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PECGS) Network provides administrative and scientific support to the Network’s researchers and their participants; facilitates outreach and communications channels, and helps standardize approaches to data collection and processing, including guidance of best practices in participant engagement.
· Optimizing HEALing in Ohio (OHiO) Communities - Group randomized trial/community-based,18 counties in Ohio; part of the 36 communities of the HCS across 4 states
· Center for Serological Testing to Improve Outcomes from Pandemic COVID- 19 (STOP-COVID) aims to understand critical aspects of COVID19 transmission in both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals; immune, host, and viral determinants of disease outcome; and factors associated with immune protection.
· Hairy Cell leukemia Registry project aims to create an international clinical database for this rare disease, to help researchers to better understand this disease and improve future treatments.
· The MPRINT (Indiana University-Ohio State University maternal & pediatric precision in therapeutics data, model, knowledge, & research CC (IU-OSU MPRINT DMKRCC)) Hub serves as a national resource for expertise in maternal and pediatric therapeutics to conduct and foster therapeutics-focused research in obstetrics, lactation, and pediatrics while enhancing inclusion of people with disabilities.
· Ohio Equity Institute (OEI) Disparities Outcomes Evaluation project collects data on evidence-based models of intervention aimed at reducing infant mortality rates, specifically Centering Pregnancy, Home Visiting, and Community Health Workers (CHWs).
· The impact of ENDS tax policies on the consumption of ENDS and cigarettes is a Cancer center project intended to study the various factors including price and tax burden of different tobacco and e-cigarette products, that impact tobacco and e-cigarette consumption among individuals..
· The Spine Phenome Project: Enabling Technology for Personalized Medicine is a Machine learning project intended to classify low-back pain patients based on various motion metrics/ measures.
· Linking education, produce provision, and community referrals to improve diabetes care (LINK) is a pragmatic randomized controlled trial (pRCT) that aims to test the effect of produce provision, diabetes education, and community referrals on hemoglobin A1c levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes experiencing food insecurity