Search de-identified data from clinic visits at several Harvard-affiliated hospitals. SHRINE

At a glance

Key Features
Request aggregate numbers of patients seen at participating hospitals who meet criteria of interest
Useful for
  • Characterizing potential clinical trial cohorts
  • Generating new research hypotheses
  • Conducting research requiring large sample sizes (e.g., population health studies)
Available to
Eligible faculty and fellows at participating institutions
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What is SHRINE?

The Shared Health Research Information Network (SHRINE) helps researchers overcome one of the greatest problems in population-based research: Compiling large groups of well-characterized patients. Eligible investigators may use the SHRINE web-based query tool to determine the aggregate total number of patients at participating hospitals who meet a given set of inclusion and exclusion criteria (currently demographics, diagnoses, medications, and selected laboratory values). Because counts are aggregate, patient privacy is protected.

These data will be most useful for investigators interested in:

  • Generating new research hypotheses
  • Planning research requiring large sample sizes not easily available at any single institution
  • Preparing grant applications that would benefit from pre-identification and/or characterization of a potential research cohort
  • Identifying potential cohorts for clinical trials
  • Conducting research in the areas of population health and health services

In June of 2011, SHRINE held its first annual conference entitled "Guiding the Emergence of Bottom-up EHR-Driven National Research Networks." Nearly 100 people, representing over 50 different institutions from 20 states across the US and 5 European countries, convened in the Countway Library on the HMS campus to discuss the technical and regulatory/ethical aspects of shared health research Information networks. The sessions' presentations are available at the conference website, where you can also find a link to SHRINE as open source code.

Participating Institutions

  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH)
  • Children's Hospital Boston (CHB)
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI)
  • Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)

SHRINE National Pilot

A pilot implementation of SHRINE as a demonstration of the feasibility of a national research network.

Watch Videos

Of leading experts discussing SHRINE at the 2011 conference.