The Veterans Affairs Precision Oncology Data Repository, a Clinical, Genomic, and Imaging Research Database

• Published in: Patterns (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2020-09, Vol.1 (6), p.100083-100083, Article 100083
• Main Authors: Elbers, Danne C., Fillmore, Nathanael R., Sung, Feng-Chi, Ganas, Spyridon S., Prokhorenkov, Andrew, Meyer, Christopher, Hall, Robert B., Ajjarapu, Samuel J., Chen, Daniel C., Meng, Frank, Grossman, Robert L., Brophy, Mary T., Do, Nhan V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: data commons; data integration; data sharing; de-identification; Descriptor; genomic data; healthcare; outcomes research; precision oncology; secondary use of clinical data; translational research
• ISSN: 2666-3899; 2666-3899
• DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2020.100083

The Veterans Affairs Precision Oncology Data Repository (VA-PODR) is a large, nationwide repository of de-identified data on patients diagnosed with cancer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Data include longitudinal clinical data from the VA's nationwide electronic health record system and the VA Central Cancer Registry, targeted tumor sequencing data, and medical imaging data including computed tomography (CT) scans and pathology slides. A subset of the repository is available at the Genomic Data Commons (GDC) and The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), and the full repository is available through the Veterans Precision Oncology Data Commons (VPODC). By releasing this de-identified dataset, we aim to advance Veterans' health care through enabling translational research on the Veteran population by a wide variety of researchers. •Presents a large-scale repository on cancer patients with EHR, imaging, and genomic data•Describes a method for de-identification of different types of health data•Enables researchers to use data science tools to apply to the data Accelerating the speed of innovation and discoveries in health care requires the liberation of real-world data from their silos. One of the greatest challenges in the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to health care is the validation of new algorithms beyond where they were created. We present the Veterans Affairs Precision Oncology Data Repository (VA-PODR), a large-scale repository of de-identified data on patients diagnosed with cancer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA-PODR includes longitudinal clinical, genomic, and imaging data originating from the VA's electronic health record system, the VA Central Cancer Registry, and other sources. VA-PODR enables researchers around the world to validate their algorithms and advance cancer research and health care in general. In addition, VA-PODR enhances Veterans' health care by facilitating development of algorithms that are well tuned to the Veteran population and ready for deployment inside the VA. The Veterans Affairs Precision Oncology Data Repository (VA-PODR) is a large, nationwide repository of real-world de-identified data on patients diagnosed with cancer at the Department of Veteran's Affairs. The repository contains longitudinal clinical data from the VA's nationwide electronic health record system and the VA Central Cancer Registry, targeted tumor sequencing data, and medical imaging data. By releasing t