SHRINE stands for the Shared Health Research Information Network. As a participating institution in the Southeastern (SE) SHRINE Consortium, the CCTS is collaborating with four other CTSAs, including Emory, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), University of Kentucky (UKY) and Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), to share federated health data within the group. All partnering institutions bring strong experience in the use and extension of i2b2, a scalable informatics framework designed for translational research. The i2b2 tool enables the sharing of aggregated data, meaning patient identity is protected.

In general, SHRINE seeks to support hypothesis development, clinical trial feasibility testing and recruitment, comparative effectiveness research, and population health research and services. The SE SHRINE Consortium members are working together to develop the infrastructure to support these ambitious goals regionally.

Representatives from the SE SHRINE institutions recently met in Little Rock, AR, to discuss progress on their shared agenda, which includes:

• Developing and maintaining i2b2/SHRINE instances that share a common SHRINE ontology and a TriNetX subnetwork that includes diagnoses, procedures, medications, and lab data and provides live data querying capabilities
• Developing a shared governance model for accessing data from the SE SHRINE network
• Adopting the SMART IRB protocol to enable multisite projects
• Mutually advancing work on research permissions for access to data and tissues within the participating EHRs
• Mutually advancing work on sharing clinical phenotypes from the EHR data in computable form across the network
• Preparing SE SHRINE network to participate in NCATS Accrual to Trial (ACT) program
• Beta testing the network with a multisite pilot grant or SHRINE-funded project

The group has made progress in several areas, including testing data quality in TriNetX (e.g., freshness, completeness), adopting the ACT ontology, and working out connectivity issues between institutional servers within the network. Next steps include creating a data governance committee, exploring pilot project ideas, and developing a Living Biorepository prototype. The group will continue to meet virtually to advance these activities.

Visit the CCTS website to learn more about SE SHRINE and other CCTS collaborative platforms.

Front row:
Katie Kirchoff, MSHI - Applications Analyst – MUSC
Laura James, MD - Director, TRI - UAMS/TRI
Fred Prior, PhD - Director, Biomedical Informatics – UAMS
Ahmad Baghal, MD - Director, Biomedical Data Warehouse - UAMS
Pam Christie, BA, CRS - Senior Project Manager - UAMS/TRI

Middle row:
Geoff Gordon, MSEE - Chief Technology Officer - UAB Informatics Institute
Shiqiang Tao, PhD - Assistant Research Professor - University of Kentucky
Guo Qiang Zhang, PhD - Director, Biomedical Informatics Institute - University of Kentucky
Sorab Syed, MS - Administrator Data Warehouse - UAMS Biomedical Informatics
Amy Jo Jenkins, MS, CCRP, CCRA, CCRC - Executive Program Manager - UAMS/TRI
Robbie Hunt, BS - Data Management - UAMS/TRI

Back row:
Dwayne Dobbins, MA, PMP - Project Manager – Technical, Biomedical Informatics - UAMS
James Cimino, MD - Director of the UAB Informatics Institute - UAB
Andrew Post, MD, PhD - Biomedical Informatics - Emory University School of Medicine
Shariq Tariq - Systems Administrator - UAMS Biomedical Informatics

Not pictured:
Mathias Brochhausen, PhD - Biomedical Informatics – UAMS
Laura Hutchins, MD - Internal Medicine, Hematology-Oncology – UAMS