ICTR Informatics Core Services
The ICTR has partnered with informatics experts across campus to form the ICTR Informatics Core to offer all UMB campus faculty access up to 25 hours of FREE* clinical and health care informatics resources. The goal of the service is to assist researchers who do not have funding for informatics resources.
*Additional hours require review and approval from ICTR leadership.
The ICTR Informatics Core can provide support with:
The REDCap team can build a database for your project in REDCap. Please be prepared to provide your current, IRB-approved research surveys, data entry /case report forms, and your project's data collection schedule. See Data Management for sample forms . Data collected are stored and maintained locally on campus in a firewalled server managed by the UMB Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Center (CTRIC). REDCap provides automated export procedures for seamless data downloads to Excel, PDF, and common statistical packages (SPSS, SAS, Stata, R) as well as a built-in project calendar, a scheduling module, ad hoc reporting tools, and advanced features, such as auto-validation, branching logic, file uploading, calculated fields, and survey stop actions. REDCap can be set up for multi-center studies as well. If you need a simple Q&A survey, consider Qualtrics. For electronic data capture forms, consider OpenText TeleForm
Access to Clinical Data. The Research HARBOR Data Warehouse consists of clinical and investigational data collected from a variety of data sources from UMMS, Translational Genomics Lab (TGL), iPatient, and other schools/entities across campus. Currently, the main data source is the Clinical Data Repository (CDR), which contains data from UMMC and other UMMS clinical sites. These data have been collated and are maintained as a library to allow researchers to request a broad scope of clinical, scientific, utilization, financial, and resource availability information. Additional data sources will become available within the Research HARBOR over time. IRB approval/determination letter must be provided prior to initiating scope of work.
REDCap Template language related to data privacy, confidentiality, security, and core description
Quality Assurance/Control. The UMB Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Center (CTRIC) can design a quality assurance plan specific to your study database and run regular reports to indicate improbable and impossible values in your database.
Consultation on:
- Use of eHealth/mHealth/patient portal interventions to promote and manage the health of adults age 50 and older
- Patient-centered PHR/patient portal implementation
- Web-based research and usability testing
- Hospital information systems evaluation and implementation
Consultation to determine "best fit" of proprosed project and available databases
How to Apply for ICTR Informatics Core Services
If you are interested in ICTR Informatics Core service support, use your UMID to log in to our ICTR Resource Request webpage and complete the ICTR Resource Request Form (developed in REDCap).
ICTR Informatics Core Leadership
ICTR Informatics Core Partnerships
Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Center (CTRIC) ▾
Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Center (CTRIC) can construct databases in a variety of different formats (MySQL, PostGreSQL, Microsoft Access, etc.) based on the needs of your study. CTRIC also offers secure, HIPAA-compliant storage if you choose to house your database on its server. CTRIC can quickly and easily access your study’s database and make any requested edits as necessary and create tables of specific data in any readable format at your request. CTRIC also can:
- Develop a Research Database with OpenText Teleforms. With the help of OpenText TeleForm designing software, the UMB Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Center (CTRIC) offers researchers custom-designed forms and data dictionaries. Data collected on these forms can be scanned into the TeleForm system to be read by its character recognition software. TeleForm increases efficiency and accuracy in the data entry process. Data can be exported to datasets in many different formats (SAS, SPSS, Excel, Access, and more).
- Construct Custom Databases. The UMB Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Center (CTRIC) can organize all of your study data into a cohesive, easy-to-use database. Databases can be constructed in a variety of different formats (MySQL, PostGreSQL, Microsoft Access, etc.) based on the needs of your study. Secure, HIPAA-compliant storage also is available.
Research HARBOR Data Warehouse ▾
Research HARBOR Data Warehouse: Research HARBOR Data Warehouse consists of clinical and investigational data collected from a variety of data sources from University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), Translational Genomics Lab (TGL), COMmunity Partners Advancing Science System (COMPASS), and iPatient. Currently, the main data source is the Clinical Data Repository (CDR), which contains data from UMMC and other UMMS clinical sites. Additional data sources will be integrated in the HARBOR over time. At the HARBOR website, select Request for Data or Service and log in using your MYUMB ID.
Other UMB Campus Shared Informatics Resources
UMB faculty needing the UMB Core services below may be eligible for additional support through the ICTR Voucher (micro grant) Program.
Bioinformation Program: The UMB Health Sciences and Human Services Library Research Connection program offers expertise, information resources, and training focused on bioinformatics and computational biology for health science research and practice. The bioinformationist is available for one-on-one or group consults in the library or in the lab.
Center for Health-related Informatics and Bioimaging (CHIB) ▾
Center for Health-related Informatics and Bioimaging (CHIB): One of the MPowering the State initiatives, CHIB combines "big data" computing capabilities to manage, process, and analyze massive amounts of clinical, genetic, and diagnostic imaging data. CHIB matches advanced computing resources at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) with clinical data and biomedical expertise at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).
Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) Informatics Resource Center (IRC) ▾
Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) Informatics Resource Center (IRC): The IRC supports bioinformatics activities by providing annotation and analysis of genomic data for internal and external projects, using state-of-the-art computational infrastructure.
Pharmaceutical Health Services Research (PHSR) Center SAS Programming and Data Cleaning Workshops ▾
The Pharmaceutical Health Services Research (PHSR) Center at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy provides UMB faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and other researchers customized SAS programming, data cleaning, and file preparation workshops. Our team can assist researchers from all health disciplines. For more information, contact 410-706-5315 or prc@rx.umaryland.edu.
Pharmaceutical Research Computing (PRC) ▾
The Pharmaceutical Research Computing (PRC) service center in the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy has been providing a wide range of services to UMB campus investigators for more than 15 years. Services include analytics (discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data), SAS programing, data management, statistics, and epidemiology to support health services researchers. The PRC can assist with obtaining data from outside sources, such as CMS, DHMH, and UMBC, and secure Memorandums of Understanding or Data Use Agreements as well as assist investigators in obtaining IRB approval.