The Biomedical Research Informatics Core (BRIC) manages and supports software tools that enable investigators to search and download clinical data across BILH sites for research purposes, such as obtaining preliminary patient counts for a study, hypothesis testing, or analyzing patient-level datasets. These include the BILH i2b2 and Clinical Query 2 (CQ2) websites and federated tools that connect to other organizations.
BRIC aligns with InSPIRE 2030 institutional pillars in the following ways: BILH i2b2 catalyzes discovery and innovation by lowering barriers to accessing clinical data for research. It strengthens research capabilities and data infrastructure at BILH by integrating different data sources, mapping these to standard medical terminologies, and simplifying research workflows. It cultivates an entrepreneurial culture through collaborations with other institutions around the world that use the i2b2 software platform. BRIC develops physicians, scientists, and educators with training and support on using BILH i2b2 and understanding how it fits within other available data tools. BILH i2b2 enables organizational effectiveness and financial stewardship by leveraging free open-source software to streamline research processes, such as evaluating the feasibility of clinical trials and finding protocol-eligible subjects. BRIC communicates to the public in various ways, such as this website, on how it supports BIDMC research priorities.