# Bio Repository Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $315,461

## Abstract

Project Summary – Biorepository and Clinical Data Core 
The need to increase participation of diverse groups in biomedical research is a national health agenda to 
promote equitable dissemination of the benefits of genomic medicine. Unfortunately, minority populations are 
underrepresented in most research, including genetic research. Our goal is to establish a data management 
taskforce to support the administrative management, data management, and analysis of data generated across 
participating institutions. We also aim to prioritize and facilitate the process by which investigators generate 
data sets and use phenotypes of interest to create research cohorts and access associated genetic data 
appropriately as it relates to health disparities research. The Specific Aims are as follows: 
 1) To facilitate the efficient use of existing biospecimen and clinical data repositories for health 
 disparities research. 
 2) To support health disparities research that leverages biospecimen repositories and clinical 
 data across multiple institutions. 
 3) To enable the linking of biological data to clinical, contextual and environmental data for 
 health disparities research. 
 4) To develop culturally informed engagement and educational activities regarding biospecimen 
 research and data repositories. 
Vanderbilt is a national leader in advancing natural language processing and machine learning techniques to 
derive phenotypes from disparate data sources. Although it is has been repeatedly stated and painfully 
apparent that social and behavioral factors influence health and mortality, such determinants are often ignored 
in clinical practice and documentation. Since social context has been show to account for disparities in health 
outcomes previously attributed to race, it is essential for environmental and contextual data be controlled for in 
minority studies. In collaboration with the partnering institutes this core will function to support the overarching 
goals of the Center of Excellence in Precision Medicine and Population Health to advance research efforts and 
genomic data to eliminate health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9921224
- **Project number:** 5U54MD010722-05
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Joshua C. Denny
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $315,461
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9921224

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9921224, Bio Repository Core (5U54MD010722-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9921224. Licensed CC0.

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