A Look into the Data Integration Centers: From container to data hub – the Düsseldorf Data Integration Center on its way to full operation
In the new SMITH news series “A Look into the Data Integration Centers”, a Data Integration Center established within the SMITH Consortium of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) will be presented on a monthly basis. The Data Integration Centers, which were initially established at university medical centers, create the conditions for secure and privacy-compliant access to high-quality data from routine care.
The Data Integration Center at the University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) participated in the SMITH Consortium as a network partner from 2018 to 2022. Since 2023, the Data Integration Center Düsseldorf has been under construction and is now almost fully operational. Read the short profile to find out what the Data Integration Center team is currently working on and the story behind its special premises.
What are the functions of the staff at the Data Integration Center Düsseldorf?
Our team of six brings together experts from the fields of medicine, medical informatics, bioinformatics, business informatics, and physics. The employees work in three areas:
- Basic Services: Development of the IT infrastructure of the Data Integration Center
- Data Services: Data extraction and processing
- Transfer Office: Consulting and support for initial data use projects
What are you currently working on?
A central focus is the establishment of further data extraction paths. We are already working on use cases and testing our structures in the implementation of the nationwide model project for genome sequencing (genomDE). The aim of this project is to integrate genomic medicine into the healthcare system for more precise genetic diagnostics and targeted therapies for rare and oncological diseases. A positive ethics vote has now been obtained to obtain broad consent at the pilot stations of the University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD).
Your Motto:
“Let’s get to work!” We end each of our daily stand-up meetings with that phrase.
Fun fact about the Data Integration Center Düsseldorf:
Our office used to be a container! At the beginning of last year, the Data Integration Center moved into the modular building, which was originally built in just six months for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. It consists of 97 interconnected building modules that now seamlessly form a medical center. In addition to the Data Integration Center, it houses a cardiology day clinic, a sleep lab and a state-of-the-art intensive care unit. Neither from the outside nor from the inside can you tell that this building was once made up of individual modules.
Since 2018, the university medical sites of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) have been setting up Data Integration Centers funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In 2023, the Data Integration Centers of the university hospitals were integrated into the Network of University Medicine (NUM). Since then, they have been funded by the BMBF as part of the NUM, but continue to be managed by the MII.