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. 

Investigators with access to a SHRINE-powered network 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. 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

The ACT Network

The HMS SHRINE network was decommissioned in 2018. In 2020, Mass General Brigham and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center joined the ACT Network, giving eligible researchers at those institutions access to the largest SHRINE network in the world.

ACT was developed collaboratively by members of NCATS’ Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium, with funding from the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Learn more about the ACT Network.

SHRINE Open Source Software

Harvard Catalyst continues to support development of the SHRINE software that makes the ACT Network and other SHRINE networks possible. For more information about the software, please visit our technical wiki.