Having successfully established the infrastructure and governance for cohort discovery spanning multiple regional partners, and ways to provision research data, the Biomedical Informatics Program (BIP) looks to the next logical step: helping people use contemporary computational methods on data to improve healthcare. Tackling this challenge requires us to engage the continuum of stakeholders (researchers, clinicians, policy makers), educating as well as offering new services enabling agile, data-driven approaches to be tested and rolled out.


Services & Tools


Program Aims

Aim 1. Enhance researchers' access to high-quality patient data

BIP will further investigators’ ability to identify research cohorts, ensuring querying/sharing for NCATS programs, including Accrual to Clinical Trials (ACT) and the Trial Innovation Network (TIN); and make available new data types. Across our Hub we will evolve secure environments and tools for linkage, discovery and navigation of data alongside organized CTSI-wide expertise supporting its use.

  • Expand patient data access.
  • Enrich data mapping and normalization. 
  • Enable universal ID (UIDs). Enhance consultations.

Aim 2. Facilitate reproducible data-driven science

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently discussed the problem of biomedical scientific reproducibility and replicability, with implications for DS/AI computational approaches. We will develop an informatics platform and governance policies to foster sharing and reproducibility of data-driven methods and analyses.

  • Create a FAIR results repository. 
  • Encourage sharing and reuse.

Aim 3. Translate DS and AI into practice

We will advance the use of these computational methods by coalescing interdisciplinary expertise and by establishing active testbeds for projects, addressing the “last mile” of translation and socio-technological issues through implementation science.

  • Provide training.
  • Test and operationalize DS/AI methods.

Developments and experiences from Aims 1-3 will be shared with CD2H and aligned with NIH initiatives, including uptake of FAIR and HL7 FHIR standards. Importantly, BIP’s efforts integrate across all CTSI Programs.

Upcoming projects

BIP seeks to create a unique website for researchers to know which data sets have been developed – and how to connect with those who created or can provide access  or knowledge on that data.


Contact Us

For BIP questions, please contact the below personnel at each site.

Charles R. Drew University
Robert Jenders, MD, MS
jenders@ucla.edu

Lundquist/Harbor-UCLA
Liz Chen
lchen@lundquist@org

BIP Leadership

Alex Bui

Alex Bui, PhD

Clinical & Translational Science Institute Senior Associate Director, Biomedical Informatics Program Leader, Network Capacity Program Co-Leader, TL1 Director
Robert Jenders

Robert Jenders, MD, MS

Clinical & Translational Science Institute Senior Associate Director, Charles Drew University Site Leader, Biomedical Informatics Program Site Leader, Pilot Translational and Clinical Studies Program Co-Leader

BIP Investigators & Staff

Lynnwood Lord

Sandy Binder

Network Capacity Program Director of Quality and Process Improvement, Participant and Clinical Interactions Program Director of Quality and Process Improvement
Amanda Do

Amanda Do

Biomedical Informatics Program Lead Clinical Data Research Analyst