Data Strategy & Partnerships

Our group provides data strategy and data governance support across the entire Fred Hutch data ecosystem, from the clinic to the research labs. We aim to create a compliant, scalable, and accessible data ecosystem that benefits all personnel through collaborative projects and programs. By enabling staff to leverage data and technology, our work advances the understanding of disease, therapeutics, and patient outcomes.

Guiding Principles

Our approach to supporting Fred Hutch staff focuses on the following guiding principles.

Advance a Unified Data Strategy Through Collaboration

Close collaboration between data and technology teams empowers our staff to lead and innovate in clinical care and translational research. By working together to shape and implement a cohesive data strategy, we drive progress in clinical care, research, and operations, adapting to emerging needs and opportunities in data science and technology.

Prioritize Data Democratization and Ethical Data Stewardship

We are committed to data democratization - making it accessible, understandable, and actionable for everyone in our organization, regardless of technical expertise. Through intuitive tools and a culture of ethical data stewardship, we ensure data serves as a driving force for innovation and responsible decision-making across healthcare and research.

Data democratization has a number of components, it’s not just enough to grant access to data. Image credit: Arpit Choudhury, Toward Data Science

Build, Foster and Empower Data Communities of Practice

We are dedicated to building and supporting data-related communities of practice that span the Fred Hutch, from the clinic to the research labs. By providing shared platforms, tools, open documentation, training and peer-to-peer programs, we empower our teams to collaborate, share knowledge, and establish best practices that drive innovation in their fields.

Communities of practice are essential for building domain-specific shared knowledge. Image credit: Giulia Forsythe.

Data Science Partnerships

We aim to connect the right technology or data science partners with research and clinical use cases at Fred Hutch, collaborating with Business Development and Philanthropy to enhance research capabilities and drive innovation. Our staff cultivates external relationships with AI, technology and data science partners and identify opportunities for philanthropic investment, industry sponsorships, and technology partnerships to advance research and clinical care.

Connect with us

If you’d like to let us know what issues you’re seeing, desired data capabilities that would advance your work, or to get updates on current status of our efforts around strategy please email data@fredhutch.org.

Data House Calls

You can connect with us through our Data House Calls and these specific Data House Call types to schedule a quick, 20 min discussion with us.

Data Noon Community Calls

We support the Fred Hutch’s diverse data community by providing visibility and communications around ongoing data-related projects through our regular “Data Noon” community calls. We present the current status of identified data programs and projects via three series:

  • Data Strategy and Governance
  • Patient Data
  • Research Data

Please request to be added to the relevant Data Noon Community Call or to recieve the associated newsletter by emailing dataproductmanagement@fredhutch.org.

Our Strategic Priorities

Since our inception in the summer of 2022, these priorities have evolved to reflect the high-level needs voiced by the Fred Hutch data community. They guide our work to maximize impact on the daily data experiences of Fred Hutch staff.

Data Infrastructure, Partnerships and Strategy

The recent merger creating a hybrid clinical and research institute at Fred Hutch brings together diverse skills, perspectives, and goals that foster innovation. To support a feedback loop between biomedical discovery and clinical care, we aim to develop a cohesive data ecosystem guided by a comprehensive data strategy. Through a continuous improvement cycle, we strategically and responsively coordinate data infrastructure to empower all staff in making data-driven decisions and discoveries. This priority includes building technology and philanthropic partnerships to leverage cutting-edge innovations that deepen our understanding of disease, therapeutics, and patient outcomes.

Data Governance

We work collaboratively across Fred Hutch to build a network for ethical data use and stewardship support. By partnering with departments such as Legal, Compliance, Business Development and Information Security, we support communication and documentation to increase staff awareness of data governance policies and procedures. We help investigators navigate data policy and governance resources, such as data use agreements, software licensing, and IRB guidance. We also contribute to organization-wide initiatives related to data governance such as Cancer Consortium data sharing, connecting patients’ data to research and staff data stewardship literacy.

Translational Data Science

As a hybrid organization, Fred Hutch is uniquely positioned to connect clinical and research data through translational data science, analytics and informatics. Our Translational Data Science teams have expertise that bridges healthcare data to large-scale laboratory datasets to support clinical trials, translational data science and AI initiatives. This work creates a continuous feedback loop between clinical care and research, accelerating progress toward a learning healthcare system to advance cancer care.

Data Product & Software Development

To support research and clinical staff, we develop translational data products as well as web applications, process automation, and scientific software that facilitate effective data use and integration. Our collaborative approach enables Fred Hutch staff to pilot, share, and publish custom applications and software and we work closely with technology teams to integrate these tools into the Fred Hutch data ecosystem.

Training and Documentation

We champions democratizing data science expertise by providing a comprehensive range of training resources, including in-person, hybrid, and self-paced courses, as well as workshops, seminars, and documentation. Supporting an evolving data community requires open, accessible documentation to enhance knowledge sharing. Our training group also collaborates on the Biomedical Data Science Wiki, a community-driven knowledge base that shares best practices and showcases data science resources at Fred Hutch and beyond.

Data Science Communities

We are committed to fostering a vibrant data science community at Fred Hutch to promote democratized access, collaboration, and mentorship. Our initiatives — including Learning Communities, the Fred Hutch Data Slack workspace, our Monday Morning Data Science newsletter, and regular events — connect individuals across research and clinical arenas, creating spaces for collaboration and support.