GHUCCTS Data Science Empowers Innovative Research

(June 29, 2026) — The Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS) empowers researchers with the resources they need to move their ideas from the bench to the bedside and beyond. One of the factors contributing to the success of researchers supported by GHUCCTS is its strength in data analysis from multiple sources, including electronic health records, biostatistics, informatics, and artificial intelligence.

“Our informatics program brings together academic excellence and practical learning through a close partnership between Georgetown University and MedStar Health,” said Nawar Shara, PhD, director of the biostatistics, epidemiology and research design (BERD) core at GHUCCTS and chief, research data science at the MedStar Health Research Institute (MHRI). “This integrated approach provides opportunities for investigators and students to apply informatics concepts in real-world healthcare settings while advancing research, education and training.”

Shara also serves as co-director of the biomedical informatics core at GHUCCTS and founding director of the MedStar-Georgetown Collaborative Center for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Research and Education (AI CoLab). With her roles at both MedStar and Georgetown, she works at the intersection of data science and medicine, giving her unique insight into the sensitivities of data and potential solutions to challenges that arise for researchers.

“I wear both hats,” Shara said. “I feel like I belong to both organizations, and we’re better off if everyone feels that way. Georgetown’s success is MedStar’s success and MedStar’s success is Georgetown’s success.”

When it comes to the growing role of AI in research, Shara views it as a tool to empower researchers, not a way to replace them. “In all we do to promote technology and AI, we strive to keep the human in the loop,” Shara said. “We have to ensure that what we are doing is not replacing things that are creative. We’re replacing things that are boring, tedious, redundant, things that take away the pleasure from the work we do on a daily basis.”

Research Enabled by Data Science

For more than 15 years, Shara has helped researchers from Georgetown University and MedStar Health work with the data from MedStar Health’s electronic health records (EHR). “There’s no research without data,” she said. “There’s nothing better than using real-world data, and real-world data comes from EHR.”

Since 2010, GHUCCTS has been funded by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health. In 2018, Shara applied for a supplemental grant for those affiliated with a CTSA recipient to study the use of chatbots to help patients with heart failure. “At the time, it was science fiction,” she said. “People were laughing.”

That study laid the groundwork for Shara’s ongoing research on how a voice-assisted, remote patient symptom monitoring system can improve outcomes for patients recovering from gastrointestinal cancer surgery, supported by a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

“That is probably the only R01-funded study in the country using chatbots to monitor symptoms after major cancer surgery 40 days post-discharge,” Shara said. “One small supplemental pilot grant led to millions of dollars of funding.”

Similarly, Shara is also pursuing research building upon her NIH GHUCCTS supplemental grant to examine how a machine learning solution can predict maternal morbidity and mortality months before the onset of cardiovascular risk. Using digital twin technology, Shara hopes to leverage AI and machine learning to predict, prevent and treat health issues in pregnancy and other areas of preventable morbidity and mortality.

“Digital twins are like a simulated figure of a patient,” she said. “You can do things in the simulated person, then see how it goes in the digital twin, like trying different drugs and different doses.”

Angela Thomas, DrPH, MPH, MBA, vice president, healthcare delivery research at MHRI, said that she sees this kind of work as closely aligned with Safe Babies Safe Moms, an initiative focused on improving outcomes for moms and babies.

“GHUCCTS’ expertise in biostatistics has been an important resource in supporting Safe Babies Safe Moms,” said Thomas, who serves as executive leader of Safe Babies Safe Moms. “It’s helped strengthen how we analyze data and better understand what’s driving maternal and infant outcomes so we can take more targeted, informed approaches to caring for the families we serve.”

‘A Wonderful Resource’

As co-director of Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Cancer Population Science Postdoctoral Training program, which prepares postdoctoral trainees for independent research careers and is supported by a T32 grant from the National Cancer Institute, Suzanne O’Neill, PhD, helps organize monthly seminars for trainees. In 2025, O’Neill invited Shara and her team to speak at a seminar about AI in cancer research.

“There’s a range of different ways we can use AI in cancer population science, and we really wanted to get our local expert to come and talk to us,” said O’Neill, a professor in the Department of Oncology at Georgetown’s School of Medicine. “We integrated AI into a couple of seminars last year, and the trainees were very interested in trying to think more about how they can apply it in their own work.”

Based on the trainees’ feedback, O’Neill added Shara as a mentor and included an option for trainees to do a rotation in AI during the program when she resubmitted her T32 grant application. Similarly, Shara named O’Neill as a collaborator when she applied for a grant to educate local high school students about AI.

“Since we had this established relationship, their thinking was that our postdocs could serve as educators for the students,” O’Neill said. “It was almost like bringing it full circle. We had reached out to her to help educate our trainees, but then they had the idea that our trainees could be educators.”

Having GHUCCTS colleagues with expertise in biostatistics and AI benefits all researchers, but especially those who are just starting out in their careers, O’Neill said. “It’s there for all of us and supports all of our research,” she said. “But I think particularly for trainees and faculty earlier in their career who can be thinking, What direction do I want to take? How can I be novel? I think it’s a wonderful resource.”

Supporting Data Science Training Programs

The strength in data science that has been developed by Georgetown and MedStar Health has not gone unnoticed externally. Since 2021, the two institutions, along with Howard University and Johns Hopkins University, have served as partners in the data science training core for the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD).

Under the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy, AIM-AHEAD supports research in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and enhances AI capabilities in places that would not otherwise have the ability to benefit from it. “The premise of that was to bring AI awareness to underserved communities so we can bring up the caliber of research and training in AI and machine learning,” Shara said.

Through AIM-AHEAD, Shara works with Peter McGarvey, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology and director of Georgetown’s Innovation Center for Biomedical Informatics (ICBI), to develop data science training for early career researchers, as well as the AI CoLab. “He’s an amazing person to help you overcome obstacles, procure institutional buy-in, and get the ball rolling,” Shara said.

Here to Help

Being a part of GHUCCTS has been a rewarding experience for Shara. “I’m proud that I’ve been able to work across the aisle, use data for the betterment of our community and our patients, address critical needs, and do impactful projects in a manner that is secure, safe, and protects patients’ identities,” she said.

For researchers interested in working with EHR data, Shara’s team can help secure IRB approval and obtain MOUs outlining the ways in which the data can be used. “Knowing the process is part of the problem,” she said. “We know the process because we have done this a million times.”

O’Neill encouraged researchers with an interest in AI to take advantage of opportunities to hear colleagues share their experiences with it. “Go to events where people who have expertise are sharing what they’re doing, and then listen with an open mind and see how it might apply to the work that you’re doing,” she said.

Researchers and students who are interested in learning more about bioinformatics can reach out via the inquiry form on the AI CoLab website.

Kat Zambon
GUMC Communications