CTSC:TTIC.090908

Back to Collaboration:Harvard_CTSC
Action Items (details below)

1. Update from the CTSC retreat: Consultation Service Website
2. Job positions to be created and filled: triage consultant, imaging navigator, IT expert
3. Sharing imaging data among sites

Harvard Translational Imaging Consortium Meeting Minutes September 9, 2008

In Attendance (in person):

• Gordon Williams
• Laura Alice
• Steven Voss
• Randy Gollub
• Clare Tempany
• Ann Schlesinger
• Zeke Bernstein-Hanley
• Bruce Rosen

1. Consultation Service web page
Genetics and Biostatistics have already created a web-page on the Harvard Catalyst website outlining their consultation services. The web pages include:

• key contacts within the consultation service
• the consultation services that are and are not provided
• an explanation of who is eligible to utilize these services
• a form for requesting consulting services that should be downloaded and sent to the triage consultant

The Imaging group's consultation web-page will be posted on the Harvard Catalyst website soon. It will include all the features listed above. Randy Gollub volunteered to serve as the triage consultant until an official consultant can be hired. There was universal agreement among the Imaging Consortium that requests for consultation services should be submitted online via an RSS feed. This idea will be proposed to Genetics and Biostatistics and discussed with the IT experts, Douglas MacFadden and Seanne Hanke. A system of tracking consultation requests should be developed, and requests should be answered within a reasonable time frame.

2. Job positions to be created and filled

• Imaging Navigator/Triage Consultant:

Potential job responsibilities include managing the consultation service, working with the IT team, teaching investigators to use XNAT resources, educating investigators, providing tutorials and training for image analysis, working with the CTSC Research Navigators, and serving as the imaging consortium's go-to person. Candidates should possess a PhD with expertise in neuroimaging research. The qualities desired in a candidate may be adapted from the CTSC Research Navigator job description.

• Informatics expert

Responsible for customizing XNAT.

• IT expert

The Imaging Consortium is looking for a PhD level IT expert. This candidate may be recruited from with the hospitals that participate in the Imaging Consortium. When hired, this person will provide support to the Imaging Consortium and develop a way of sharing imaging data across sites while maintaining the existing security measures. The successful candidate will work with IT teams at each site to accomplish this goal.

3. Image Data Management and Shared Imaging Data
Sharing imaging data between sites is difficult due to HIPAA regulations. For each study that requires sharing data between institutions, a policy must be developed to regulate it. It is unlikely that a central archive of imaging data can be developed. However, IT will likely be able to develop a system that works with each hospital's individual firewall so that imaging data can be shared between sites. An IT person will likely have to be hired to accomplish this goal.