Data from the COVID-19 pandemic can enable greater understanding of disease spread, rapid global emergency response efforts, health disparities, disease forecasting, and beyond. However, researchers need to be able to easily access and analyze this data to build more efficient and effective processes for the future. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx®) Data Hub is allowing researchers to do just that.
The recently upgraded RADx Data Hub has emphasized design and functionality changes that streamline support for researchers hoping to access data that can help inform responses to future global emergencies and improve our understanding of healthcare and access disparities.
The NIH RADx Data Hub, which provides access to RADx investigator-collected datasets, is a key component of the NIH RADx Initiative. Since the RADx Data Hub’s launch in December 2022, it has supported de-identified, curated, and harmonized secondary COVID-19 dataset use, while also providing tools to analyze infection and mortality disparities across communities and settings.
These functions have helped researchers understand many aspects of the pandemic, but the newly enhanced RADx Data Hub (https://radxdatahub.nih.gov/) provides researchers more dynamic access to explore data from over 150 RADx Radical, RADx-Underserved Populations, RADx-Tech, and RADx Digital Health Technologies studies. Researchers also gain access to a more robust analytics platform, with tools such as Jupyter notebooks, R, Python, and SAS Viya.
Important new capabilities allow researchers to:
- Perform study searches and discover study overviews without having to create an account or log in
- View extensive and informative metadata for research planning
- Request access to advanced analytical tools such as Data Wrangler and SAS Viya
- Access a more streamlined, cloud-based analytics workbench
- Use a more intuitive interface with extensive documentation for audiences with differing levels of experience
- Download approved data without creating a cloud-based workbench
Researchers can now use powerful features to reimagine the pandemic data landscape, forever changing what we can do and learn with existing RADx data, forging new collaborations and build a community to accelerate scientific research and innovation. This data collection and built-in tools will inform future work on global pandemic concerns (for COVID and beyond), improving our ability to responds to morbidity and mortality disparities in underserved and vulnerable populations and innovate on existing and new testing technologies and digital health solutions.
I hope new researchers may be interested in using this powerful platform and joining the RADx Data Hub Community. I encourage you to share this news with anyone studying COVID-19 or beyond. You can learn more about the RADx Data Hub by registering for Office Hours, signing up for the newsletter, and reaching out to the Data Hub Partners for a demo of the newest Data Hub features.
Susan Gregurick
