N3C-Clinical
NCATS is piloting the use of the N3C infrastructure for research on additional health conditions using real-world clinical data.
About N3C-Clinical
The N3C represents a collective vision for a national resource of real-world clinical data that researchers can use to speed medical research.
NCATS is piloting the use of the N3C infrastructure developed for COVID-19 research (N3C-COVID) for additional health conditions. The pilot projects point to the possibility of an NCATS National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C-Clinical) that builds on and extends the expertise and resources initially developed in response to the pandemic.
The N3C-Clinical pilot projects leverage operational and governance aspects of the N3C platform that have been established already. A key difference from the original effort is that the pilot projects essentially have their own data enclave where the proposed research is conducted. They do not use any data from N3C-COVID, and they require separate data transfer and use agreements.
For all N3C-Clinical pilot projects, NCATS provides stewardship of the technology platform. The center takes a comprehensive approach to keeping data secure and protecting patient privacy.
The following N3C-Clinical pilot projects are active:
Renal Enclave
Lead organization: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH
This enclave focuses on using real-world clinical data to better understand the patient’s journey through chronic kidney disease, including dialysis and transplant.
Cancer Enclave
Lead organization: National Cancer Institute, NIH
This enclave focuses on using real-world clinical data to study differences in cancer patient outcomes and treatment practices.
Education Enclave
Lead organizations: NCATS, NIH; Office of Data Science Strategy, NIH
This enclave offers a space for researchers to develop and practice the skills needed to analyze real-world data. It includes data from 500,000 simulated patients created for educational purposes, but no actual patient data. The data represent common elements found within electronic health records. To learn more about the enclave and accessing it, please visit the N3C Education Enclave.