Projekt

A framework for an open and scalable infrastructure for health data exemplified by the DD2 initiative

Abstract

In clinical and health research, especially for small- to mid-sized research groups, funding for building modern, open source software infrastructures for managing and using data has been limited. This gap has naturally led to organizational challenges for managing existing and incoming data for many research initiatives, including the Danish Centre for Strategic Research in Type 2 Diabetes (DD2) initiative, a national research collaboration and database initiative established in 2010 with continual enrollment of persons with type 2 diabetes. The aim of our project is to close this gap by creating and implementing an efficient, scalable, and open source data infrastructure framework that connects data collectors, researchers, clinicians, and other stakeholders, with the data, documentation, and findings within the DD2 study. This will improve and extend the existing DD2 research infrastructure into an open national state-of-the-art research
infrastructure that will provide easy and transparent access to this resource for researchers, clinicians and stakeholders, thus enabling excellent data science driven research. Furthermore, we will create this framework in such a way that other research groups and companies, who are unable to adequately invest in building infrastructures of this type, can relatively easily implement it, and modify as needed, for their own
purposes. By building this framework, we have the potential to help propel research groups and companies across Denmark (and globally) to quickly getting updated on modern, scalable, and efficient approaches to working with data. Within the DD2 setting, an open, transparent, and easy access to this constantly growing resource has the potential of greatly improving the interest in, use of, and scientific impact of this resource, thus leading to substantial scientific and medical advancements, individualised treatment and improved human health in not only persons with type 2 diabetes, but population overall.