Presented at the Discovery Informatics Workshop, Toronto, Canada, July 27, 2014

1. Ask Not What the NIH Can Do For You; Ask
What You Can Do For the NIH Philip E. Bourne Ph.D.
Associate Director for Data Science
National Institutes of Health
http://www.slideshare.net/pebourne

2. The Backdrop…
To foster an ecosystem that enables
biomedical research to be conducted
as a digital enterprise that enhances
health, lengthens life and reduces
illness and disability

3. So what can you do for the NIH?
First, some background
a) We believe what you are doing in
discovery informatics to be very
important to the ADDS mission
b) We have defined 5 thematic areas
to pursue so how can you help?
Here are the areas….

4. Associate Director for Data Science
Commons
Training
Center
BD2K
Modified
Review
Sustainability* Education* Innovation* Process
• Cloud – Data &
Compute
• Search
• Security
• Reproducibility
Standards
• App Store
• Coordinate
• Hands-on
• Syllabus
• MOOCs
• Community
• Centers
• Training Grants
• Catalogs
• Standards
• Analysis
• Data
Resource
Support
• Metrics
• Best
Practices
• Evaluation
• Portfolio
Analysis
The Biomedical Research Digital Enterprise
Communication
Collaboration
rogrammatic Theme
Deliverable
Example Features • IC’s
• Researchers
• Federal
Agencies
• International
Partners
• Computer
Scientists
Scientific Data Council External Advisory Board
* Hires made

5. Lets take each area one at a time

6. 1. Sustainability & the Commons
Source Michael Bell http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/m.j.bell1/blog/?p=830

7. What The Commons Is and Is Not
 Is Not:
– A database
– Confined to one physical
location
– A new large
infrastructure
– Owned by any one group
 Is:
– A conceptual framework
– Analogous to the Internet
– A collaboratory
– A few shared rules
• All research objects
have unique
identifiers
• All research objects
have limited
provenance
http://video.open-bio.org/video/23/biomedical-research-as-an-open-digital-enterprise

8. The Commons (Vivien Bonnazi
& George Komatsoulis (NCBI))
 What we beginning to do:
• Establishing public/private partnership
• Working with IC’s, NCBI, CIT, the community to identify and
run pilots in the cloud, HPC centers, institutions
• Porting DbGAP to the cloud
• Experimenting with new funding strategies
• Evaluating

9. Sustainability and Sharing: The Commons
Data
The Long Tail
Core Facilities/HS Centers
Clinical /Patient
The Why:
Data Sharing Plans
The
Commons
Government
The How:
Data
Discovery
Index
Sustainable
Storage
Quality
Scientific
Discovery
Usability
Security/
Privacy
Commons == Extramural NCBI == Research Object Sandbox == Collaborative Environment
The End Game:
KnowledgeNIH
Awardees
Private
Sector
Metrics/
Standards
Rest of
Academia
Software Standards
Index
BD2K
Centers
Cloud, Research Objects,

10. What Does the Commons Enable?
 Dropbox like storage
 The opportunity to apply quality metrics
 Bring compute to the data
 A place to collaborate
 A place to discover
http://100plus.com/wp-content/uploads/Data-Commons-3-
1024x825.png

11. [Adapted from George Komatsoulis]
One Possible Commons Business Model
HPC, Institution …

12. 1. So What Can You Do for the
Commons?
 Contribute to the discussion on research object
identifiers
 Contribute to the discussion on provenance for
research objects
 Propose and implement pilots in the commons
 Apply for FY15 RFAs associated with the commons
 Critique it!

13. 2. Training (Michelle Dunn)2. Training (Michelle Dunn)
 Training Goals:
– Develop a sufficient cadre of researchers skilled in data
science
– Elevate general competencies in data usage and analysis
across the biomedical research workforce
– Combat the Google bus
 How:
– Traditional training grants
– Non-traditional funding mechanisms
– Work with IC’s on a needs assessment
– Work with institutions on raising awareness
– Training center(s)

14. 2. What Can You Do for Training?
 Propose new models for training at the intersection of
the disciplines
 Address the question, are training centers a good
idea?
 Propose new funding models for training around
prizes, challenges, hackathons etc.

15.  Data Discovery Index Coordination
Consortium (U24) (under review; FY14)
 Centers (under review; FY14)
 Metadata standards (under development;
FY15)
 Targeted Software Development
(FY14;FY15)
 Workshops (FY14, FY15)
3. BD2K Innovation (Jennie3. BD2K Innovation (Jennie
Larkin and Mark Guyer)Larkin and Mark Guyer)

16. 3. What Can You Do for
BD2K/Innovation?
 Apply to the RFAs
 Respond to the RFIs
 Participate in the workshops
 Talk to us about what we should be doing in the
extramural community to foster the ecosystem
 Other?

17. 4. Process
 What this involves:
– Policies and procedures
– Grant management and review
– Communicating with the community …

18. 4. What Can You Do for Process?
– Make research object citation a reality
– Support machine readable data sharing plans?
– Support open review?
– Support micro funding?
– Support standing data committees to explore best
practices?
– Support Crowd sourcing?
– [your ideas here….]

19. 5. Collaboration
 Between funding agencies
 Between different branches of the federal
government
 Between countries / geographic regions
 Between communities / disciplines

20. 5. What Can You Do for
Collaboration?
 Continue to do what you are doing
 Encourage interagency funding initiatives
 Suggest workshops that bring folks together
 Suggest mechanisms for making the collaborations
stick
 Suggest ways to stimulate communities
 Your ideas here ….

21. That’s enough for you to do for one
day…
Thanks for listening and acting as I
know you will (no pressure)

22. Some Acknowledgements
 Eric Green & Mark Guyer (NHGRI)
 Jennie Larkin (NHLBI)
 Leigh Finnegan (NHGRI)
 Vivien Bonazzi (NHGRI)
 Michelle Dunn (NCI)
 Mike Huerta (NLM)
 David Lipman (NLM)
 Jim Ostell (NLM)
 Andrea Norris (CIT)
 Peter Lyster (NIGMS)
 All the over 100 folks on the BD2K team

23. NIHNIH……
Turning Discovery Into HealthTurning Discovery Into Health
philip.bourne@nih.gov