Informatics deals with information science, or studying big data sets and safely storing massive amounts of digital information. The core is syncing information across sites so that researchers have more to study in finding health trends or new signs that predict an illness. It also helps build custom online portals, apps, databases, data visualizations, and more. The UChicago Center for Research Informatics (CRI), Loyola University’s Office of Informatics and Systems Development (OISD), NorthShore University HealthSystem’s Health Information Technology, Rush University’s Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core (BBC), and the Advocate Warehouse for Research & Evaluation (AWARE) are all part of this core.
Samuel Volchenboum
ITM Informatics Core Leader
Sam Volchenboum, MD, PhD, is leads the ITM’s Informatics Core. He manages the biomedical informatics tools, resources, and support for clinical research studies.
Volchenboum, an associate professor of pediatrics, is an expert in childhood cancers and blood disorders. As UChicago’s associate chief research informatics officer, his work also focuses on how to harness big data to enable innovative research.
In the bioinformatics realm, he directs the development of the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Database project, which connects international patient data with external information, such as genomic data and tissue availability. Volchenboum also runs the Center for Research Informatics, which provides computational support for the Biological Sciences Division at UChicago and private industry, including high-performance computing, applications development, bioinformatics resources, and access to the clinical research data warehouse to help accelerate investigators’ work.
Reach him at svolchen@peds.bsd.uchicago.edu.
