Research Informatics

Khamis Abu-Hasaballah, Ph.D. Assistant Vice President, Research Informatics Office of the CIO Phone: 860-679-8141 Fax: 860-679-4494 Email: khamis@uchc.edu

Welcome to Research Informatics at the the University of Connecticut Health Center!

At the University of Connecticut Health Center, the future of healthcare is being invented every day. We invite you to be part of the process. The Health Center is an exciting place to be engaged in the quest for better ways to combat disease and promote health. We welcome your interest. Whether you are a researcher, clinician, educator, or an administrator, the purpose of this site is to make it easy and convenient for you to find the Research IT-related resources and information you need.

My name is Khamis Abu-Hasaballah and I have joined the Information Technology Department with a mandate to engage the research community to develop and implement a 21st-century Research IT strategy that will be a model for academic medical centers. My specific aims are to:

• Provide oversight, technical direction, and strategic vision for implementation of research data repositories, including a clinical data repository and a de-identified data warehouse for scientific research and to support clinical operations.
• Provide oversight, technical direction, and strategic vision for moving InfoEd - a research enterprise resource system (rERP) - forward by increasing its user base; utilizing its full functionality; developing policies and procedures for its use and management, rolling out the Clinical Trials Management module and the Post Award module; and integrating its modules and interfacing it with other research and administration systems to allow full automation of the the research process end-to-end.
• Direct the procurement, development, enhancement, and support of software to support the complete automation of the research process, including but not limited to: faculty grant development and submission; grant award management and tracking; protocol development and submission to the Institutional Review Board (IRB)/Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC); protocol administration and execution; scientific data collection, and management, and analyses; and manuscript publication.
• Develop and implement technology in support of collaborative projects and information sharing with other research organizations, state agencies, regional hospitals, and federal initiatives such as the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG), Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), and Connecticut Health Information Network (CHIN).
• Direct the procurement, development, enhancement, and support for a complete software solution for managing faculty CVs and bio-sketches - including CV-fed faculty websites, a comprehensive and up-to-date grant opportunity alert system, and inter- and intra-Health Center faculty networking system.
• Develop and manage a one-stop shop for Research IT systems and resources. This includes the development of an inventory of research-related software applications and tools, and hardware resources; webpage creation and hosting; and support for open source and non-Microsoft applications.
• Streamline the process for software and IT-related systems procurement and site license management.
• Assist research faculty in grant writing of data sharing plans, security plans, and computer systems configuration and pricing to meet the specific needs of the project.
• Direct the development and enhancement of a university-wide registry of active clinical trials and a community-wide registry of potential volunteers for clinical trials.

Let me hear from you!

Khamis Abu-Hasaballah, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President, Research Informatics, Office of the CIO