On July 20th, Data Management and Modeling Core Leader David Kaeli participated in the NIEHS WTP Spring 2016 Workshop/Awardee Meeting, held in Boston, MA. The meeting, titled “Responding to Emerging Health Threats Through Research and Training,” was part of the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the NIEHS and the 30th anniversary of the Superfund Research Program. Presenters from within the NIEHS as well as current and former grantees discussed the history of the SRP, including the effects that major health crises—such as climate change and Hurricane Katrina—have had on the program.
Dr. Kaeli’s presentation looked to the future of the SRP program. Titled “NIEHS Challenges and Opportunities: Big Data Analytics, Processing and Machine Learning,” the talk focused on the PROTECT database and the benefits of a cross-indexed repository that links together a large quantity of data. The PROTECT database brings together biomedical, xenobiotic, demographic and environmental data from across the study, and is available to researchers from all of PROTECT’s partner institutions.
Over 100 people attended the event, including researchers, educators, and health practitioners, as well as NIEHS staff. Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of the NIEHS, and Dr. Heather Henry, head of the Superfund Research Program, were also in attendance.