Poster Sessions

BIOINFO-7

Gail Pearson

M. Keller, L. Kramer, S. Tennstedt, V. Pemberton, G. Pearson

Community Analysis and Bioinformatics Framework Recommendations for NHLBI’s Pediatric Heart Network

The Pediatric Heart Network (PHN) was established in 2001 by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to improve outcomes in children with heart disease. Booz Allen Hamilton is supporting the PHN by developing a bioinformatics strategy to implement tools and infrastructure for facilitating PHN studies. The project involved a community analysis to understand the PHN structure and functions, identify needs, requirements, and near-term bioinformatics priorities. A PHN community model detailing existing tools, business processes, and forecasts about future PHN activities was generated. We identified internal as well as external tools and infrastructure that could be leveraged to satisfy high priority needs by the PHN community. The strategy for the Bioinformatics Framework includes three main focus areas: 1. Establish a reference architecture framework to build bioinformatics capabilities in an agile, modular manner. 2. Identify key PHN areas where the reference architecture is applicable. 3. Identify use cases, such as the use case for echocardiogram image transfer processes, to demonstrate how the reference architecture will be used for PHN. In summary, the PHN informatics strategy project provided a unique opportunity to apply various biomedical informatics tools and infrastructure to further enable and enhance the underserved area of pediatric research.