ICTR Informatics Core Services

The Data Asset Management Service led by Dr. Patrick McArdle provides comprehensive support for research teams, offering structured ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, robust data asset management, and seamless integration of diverse data sources. It is designed to help researchers transform raw, operational data into clean, analysis-ready datasets stored in a centralized data warehouse.

Best Practices:

1. Data Asset Management
   - Establishes modular, reusable SAS programs using SAS Enterprise Guide.
   - Initiates structured SAS libraries for both staging and final data (Data Warehouse).
   - Implements directory and naming conventions to ensure consistency and traceability.
   - Supports de-identification and consent-based filtering to meet privacy and ethical standards.
2. ETL Processing
   - Extracts data from multiple sources (e.g. REDCap, Excel, MySQL, Access).
   - Transforms data to normalize structure, remove operational variables, and merge external datasets.
   - Loads cleaned datasets into a permanent Data Warehouse, optimized for analysis and reporting.
   - Schedules re-running of stored process flows (e.g. weekly, monthly)
3. REDCap – SAS – MS Teams Integration
   - Automates data extraction using the REDCap API.
   - Addresses REDCap-specific challenges (e.g., Inefficient long-form data structure, Temporary formats in the SAS WORK library, Repeated instruments and session persistence)
   - Built-in quality control and progress reporting via MS Teams

Use of UMMS patient medical record information for research projects or for QA/QI projects requires IRB review as well as UMMS approval. This includes deidentified data. IRB approval alone DOES NOT grant access. 

To access UMMS patient medical record information for research projects or for QA/QI projects

• Please submit an ICTR Resource Request (see How to Apply... below). This will initiate a consult request with the UMMS Research Informatics Core (RIC) team with the faculty researcher. Team members may participate in the consultation, but the faculty PI of the project must be present. 
• You may not access or use patient medical information until the RIC Honest Broker has your IRB approved protocol and the IRB determination letter. 
• Epic data obtained from the UMMS honest broker or from chart reviews must be stored in the UMB Secure Research Environment (SRE). Epic data cannot leave the UMB campus and cannot be entered into an outside institution's database without the required approvals, such as a UMMS DUA or UMMS DTUA. More information about the SRE can be found here  
• See How to Apply below.  In the Informatics section of the application, check “Access to Clinical Data”.  This request will initiate a consult request with the UMMS Research Informatics Core (RIC).  

For questions about obtaining Epic access, email helpdesk@umm.edu.

Before going though the data request pathway, consider using TriNetX to determine if a patient population of interest exists within University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).

Led by Dr. Jean Jeudy, he Clinical and Research Imaging Informatics Core (CRIC) is a resource for the UMB ICTR that aims to bridge information science, computer science, and health care imaging, delivering a comprehensive suite of services for researchers on campus.

CRIC provides a breadth of imaging-related services, including ingestion and curation of imaging data, project organization, labeling, annotation of images and data for search, and providing compliant, configurable de-identification tools.

The National Institutes of Health’s new mandatory policy on data management and sharing is intended to improve research reproducibility and leverage data for greater effectiveness. CRIC is aligned to help researchers at all funding levels comply with the new regulations.

The core offers advice and guidance on imaging informatics topics such as DICOM, medical ontologies, artificial intelligence, image post-processing, and data harmonization with common standards. Advanced custom workflows can be crafted in conjunction with the University of Maryland Medical Intelligent Imaging Center (UM2ii). Through collaboration with UM2ii, researchers can automate labeling, conversion, pre-processing, and pipelines for their projects in a secure and compliant manner.

We are passionate about providing sophisticated and robust services to the UMB scientific community and are committed to creating novel informatics solutions for single or multi-center studies.

• Patient-centered PHR/patient portal implementation
• Web-based research and usability testing
• Hospital information systems evaluation and implementation

The REDCap team can provide guidance on how to build your REDCap project.  The UMB ICTR REDCap Administrators provide high-level support and training to assist the research team in building their own REDCap project as well as providing consultation support throughout the life cycle of the project. Currently, there is no limit to how frequently the research team can reach out for guidance. This approach will help to develop more informed REDCap users across the campus and more closely aligns with the successful models used at other academic medical centers.

It will be helpful to bring your data collection instruments and your project's data collection schedule.  Please Note: Before a REDCap project can move to production (active data collection), you will need IRB approval for the data elements you plan to include in your REDCap project and individuals with user rights in your REDCap project will need to be on the IRB approved team list. 

More information about REDCap can be found here REDCap.

IMPORTANT! Absolutely NO Epic data can be stored in REDCap without IRB approval AND UMMS approval. For UMMS approval, email eda-research@umm.edu  

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) provides Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, & Cybersecurity Services to the UMB ICTR Informatics Core.  The new UMBC services will be an exciting addition for those researchers exploring the use of machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify patterns in data and make decisions with minimal human intervention.   For researchers interested in developing apps and devices that may improve delivery and exchange of health information, UMBC's Cybersecurity expertise will help the researcher protect those devices, systems, and data from attack.  See below for a list of UMBC Core services available to UMB researchers.

UMBC - ICTR Core Capabilities

• Securing medical devices
• Securing smart systems, e.g., smart surgery rooms
• Protecting learned/predictive models from attacks
• Deep learning and artificial neural networks
• Natural language processing
• Graph analytics
• Time series analytics
• Data visualization augmented reality and virtual reality

UMBC - ICTR Core Example of Services:

• Consult to uncover possible cybersecurity risks associated with devices and/or systems.
• Consult on ways to protect devices and/or systems from attackers, either at design time or after deployment.
• Consult on ways to apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve specific problems given existing data, including processing pipelines, specific algorithms, and evaluation methodology
• Advise on what additional data could be collected or obtained to potentially improve the utility of AI/ML for specific use cases.
• Construct simple proof-of-concept AI/ML systems to understand what level of performance might be achieved with more time, data, or resources
• Advise on the best visual representations to explore complex datasets and to communicate results to others. 

• Access to Medicare and IQVIA data.  Researchers interested in Medicare and IQVIA data may be eligible for ICTR Voucher Support to help defray the cost (see ... below).  For full more information, please contact Pharmaceutical Research Computing (PRC). 
  • Medicare Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse (CCW)
  • Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS)
  • IQVIA Pharmetrics®Plus for Academics 25% Sample
• Assistance with securing Memorandums of Understanding or Data Use Agreements.

The UMB HSHSL Center for Data and Bioinformation Services provides information about accessing the following:

• All of Us data
• N3C (National COVID Cohort Collaborative)
• ICPSR (Inter university Consortium for Political & Social Research)
• QDR (Qualitative Data Repository)
• UMB Data Catalog
• OSF (Open Science Framework)
• DMP Tool

The UMB Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HSHSL) introduced the UMB Data Catalog in 2018.  UMB is one of several academic health science libraries currently participating in the Data Catalog Collaboration Project (DCCP) to increase data sharing.  The catalog is not a repository to store datasets; it describes them.  The UMB Data Catalog is a searchable and browsable collection of records describing datasets created by or used by UMB researchers.  Do you want to increase the visibility of your data and data re-use?  Consider adding information about it to the UMB Data Catalog.  Datasets are discoverable through a search in the UMB Data Catalog, Google's Dataset Search (beta) and Google.  Use the link to your dataset record in articles, CVs, and your web profile.  Email UMB HSHSL Data Catalog.

Research Data Management Services: The UMB Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HSHSL) Research Connection program can help you develop a data management plan. Many funding agencies require plans for managing data with grant applications. Following best practices in research data management can help you, your lab, or your center secure grant funding and create data output that becomes part of the scholarly record.

Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP) Data for UMB Researchers: Research data are available through Maryland's CRISP health information exchange. Questions can be directed to the CRISP Team. 

Safety, Clinical Outcomes, Research, and Effectiveness (SCORE) Program: Anesthesiology has been a pioneer in patient safety since the late 1970s and remains a leader in the field through its partnership with the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Anesthesia Quality Institute and the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation. The Department of Anesthesiology maintains the Anesthesia Clinical Registry (ACR), a data warehouse that is used for research and operational purposes. Collaborators on research and quality improvement projects from within the department, the School of Medicine, and the University of Maryland Medical System work closely with SCORE's ACR team to maximize use of this rich data resource while adhering to high standards of data practice and research ethics.

Need Campus Statistics for a Grant Submission? Go to the Office of Institutional Research and Accountability for reports on student and faculty counts for each school, student and faculty demographics, grant submission statistics, and more.

Using standardized data collection instruments in research helps ensure consistency in data gathering across different studies and researchers, minimizing bias, enhancing reliability, and allowing for accurate comparisons and meaningful analysis of results, particularly when combining data from multiple sources; essentially, they provide a common framework for collecting data, making it more reliable and comparable across different studies.

Please see the CDISC website for examples of CDASH compliant data collection instruments, or see NIH Common Data Elements and Forms.

The Secure Research Environment (SRE) is a university virtual environment designed to safeguard sensitive research data through secure cloud infrastructure, unlike the local desktop setup of the current UMB research computing environment. Its use reduces the risk of data misuse or unauthorized access.

The Pharmaceutical Research Computing (PRC) is a dynamic, organized research center that offers responsive and client-focused computer programming, data management, pharmaceutical classifications, and analytic support for health services research and evaluation.