Med giants to collaborate on data-sharing venture

Case Western University, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals will begin sharing clinical data in the hopes of improving patient care.

Crain's Cleveland Business reports that the collaboration--called the Institute of Computational Biology--will be tasked with developing a technological infrastructure that will allow the three institutions to use clinical data to both improve treatment and the health of the community.

Leading the effort is geneticist Jonathan Haines, formerly of Vanderbilt University, who was just named chair of Case Western medical school's department of epidemiology and biostatistics.

Haines' background should lend itself well to the new project--while at Vanderbilt, he formed the Center for Human Genetics Research and a biological repository linked to the university's medical records database, according to Crain's.

Earlier this week it was reported that a consortium of universities and hospital systems in South Carolina have started using a database containing the medical information of millions of patients across the state with the intent of developing better, more cost-effective treatment plans.

The $15 million database--dubbed the Clinical Data Warehouse--is housed at Clemson University and operated by Health Sciences South Carolina in Columbia. The funds came from the Duke Endowment, a philanthropic organization benefiting the Carolinas.

This past summer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center researchers were able to electronically integrate clinical and genomic information on 140 breast cancer patients through use of a data warehouse. 

To learn more:
- read the article in Crain's Cleveland Business

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