COHORT DISCOVERY (ITM LEAF)
3
Institutions
10
Years of Data
3 MILLION
Patients
8
Data Domains
165
Researachers
OVER 3.1 MILLION PATIENTS
Leaf is the first discovery tool of its kind in Chicagoland. With just a few clicks, you can explore data across
patient populations and filter according to things like age, medical conditions, and even procedures. ITM Leaf
was made possible thanks to support from NCATS’ Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program grant
number UL1TR002389. Please cite the grant in your work to ensure tools like this can continue to help
researchers like you!
WHAT IS ITM LEAF?
ITM Leaf is a cohort discovery tool deployed by the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) at University of
Chicago, Rush University Medical Center, and Loyola University Medical Center. Leaf was created at the
University of Washington’s Institute of Translational Health Sciences. More information about the background
and creation of Leaf can be found in this JAMIA article.
Leaf is a self-service web application that allows cohort discovery from clinical data from single or multiple
institutions. Cohort discovery involves finding patient populations using inclusion criteria such as
demographics, medical conditions, and procedures. Leaf removes barriers between clinical data and end-users
by making it easy to design and run queries that define cohorts. Data loaded onto Leaf are from de-identified
Electronic Health Records and include demographics, vital status, encounters, diagnoses, and procedures.
Data are organized according to PCORnet common data model specifications. Leaf can be used as
preparatory-to-research to determine if there are enough patients that qualify for a study to prepare an IRB
protocol or grant proposal.
Hear it from them
As a clinical researcher running clinical trials and implementation
science, having rapid access to data both locally and regionally into the
number of patients that could be enrolled or impacted by a study is
critically important with many submissions. Now having access to the
LEAF database has already helped considerably in determining
opportunities for future studies. I am able to enter the diagnoses I am
interested in, the types of populations that are affected, in this case
oncology and it gives me numbers of patients seen with that condition in
the last 3 years, locally and at other sites nearby. As a pre-screening tool, it helps justify numbers on research submissions and when applying
for prospective studies for my site. Before this was available, it was a
guess, or I had to wait for data from the repository, now I can do it in
minutes from my computer. If you are a researcher, leaf will simplify the
process to justify powering a study and make querying data before
research and IRB submission a lot faster.
Graeme Forrest, MBBS
RUSH Medical College
Professor of Medicine
Hear it from them
The Leaf cohort discovery tool provides a gateway for clinicians and
researchers to perform impactful research. In Leaf, researchers can
take an idea or observation and query the databases. This ensures that
research efforts are focused on addressing the healthcare needs of
today, and how they may impact tomorrow.
Eric Bhaimia, D.O.
Rush University Medical Center
Assistant Professor Division of Infectious Diseases
HOW CAN THIS INFORMATION HELP ME?
See if there are enough patients who would qualify for your study, or use the information to prepare an IRB
protocol or grant proposal!
The Leaf cohort discovery tool provides a gateway for clinicians and researchers to perform impactful
research. In Leaf, researchers can take an idea or observation and query the database. This ensures that
research efforts are focused on addressing the healthcare needs of today, and how they may impact tomorrow.
WHO CAN ACCESS LEAF?
Researchers at the University of Chicago, RUSH, and Loyola University Chicago who are eligible to be on an
IRB-approved study can access LEAF using your institutional credentials. You don’t need an approved IRB
protocol to access Leaf.
Leaf is behind a security firewall, so you’ll need to connect via your institution’s VPN or
be on campus to access it.
WHAT DATA ARE AVAILABLE IN LEAF?
The Leaf instance you have access to is connected to de-identified data from the University of Chicago, Rush
University Medical Center, and Loyola University Medical Center. De-identification was performed using the
Safe Harbor Method as specified by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act of 1996 (HIPAA)
Privacy Rule. Data domains that can be queried are demographics, vital status, encounters, diagnoses, and
procedures. These data are organized according to PCORnet specifications.
HOW OFTEN ARE DATA REFRESHED IN LEAF?
Data are refreshed once every six months. Initial data load onto Leaf was from January 2016 to December
2022.
I’M READY TO GET STARTED WITH ITM LEAF!
Access your ITM institution’s Leaf platform
Click your institution’s logo below to get started! Remember to login using your VPN or campus connection.
Want to learn more?
Watch these videos on how to use the tool
