In an era where data drives discovery, the concept of a “data enclave” is transforming how researchers access and protect sensitive information. Defined by the National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine as a secure network for storing and sharing confidential data, these digital fortresses are rapidly becoming indispensable. For scientists and analysts alike, data enclaves offer a powerful gateway to research insights previously buried beneath layers of privacy constraints—unlocking new possibilities in fields from public health to the social sciences.

The University of Vermont (UVM), the Larner College of Medicine, and UVM Health (UVMH) have jointly launched a secure, collaborative research data enclave designed to remove barriers to large-scale, data-driven clinical and population health research while safeguarding patient privacy and integrity. This initiative marks a pivotal step in bridging academic research and sensitive, real-world data in Vermont, laying the foundation for evidence-based policymaking and research-informed health care delivery.

In 2023, just three months into her role as Senior Associate Dean for Research at the Larner College of Medicine and Director of Research at UVMH, Kate Tracy, Ph.D., joined a leadership workgroup focused on tackling issues surrounding the sharing of data to advance UVM’s academic mission and research enterprise. Tracy recognized the urgent need to strengthen clinical and translational research and to eliminate barriers to accessing and leveraging electronic health data as part of the state’s academic health system. She leveraged her previous experience in establishing a secure research enclave at the University of Maryland, Baltimore with the following goals: catalyze a strong academic partnership between the university, the college, and UVMH, and enable data sharing and improve access to electronic health records to better understand Vermonters’ health from a research and clinical perspective. 

Through a supplemental grant to the Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research Network, funded by the NIH General Medical Sciences IDeA program, Tracy secured $1.6 million dollars to design and implement a protected environment where researchers could access and analyze clinical data without compromising patient privacy. “This is critical in health research, where datasets often contain sensitive information, such as protected health details, insurance claims, electronic health records, and other personally identifiable data,” said Tracy. 

By isolating research activities, the enclave helps safeguard data privacy and confidentiality—while still enabling meaningful scientific exploration using electronic health records.

“This is about creating a safe space for researchers to work with sensitive data in a way that supports both innovation and compliance,” said Steve Goldman, M.S., chief information officer at Larner and executive sponsor for the data enclave initiative. “It’s a structured solution to long-standing challenges in data sharing between clinical and academic entities.”

“Without organized access to aggregated data, we miss critical opportunities to improve health outcomes for Vermonters.” 

— Kate Tracy, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Research, Larner College of Medicine and Director of Research for UVMH

The enclave facilitates integration of multiple datasets—including state-level public health data—allowing researchers to explore complex questions about regional health trends, disparities, and outcomes. “Without organized access to aggregated data, we miss critical opportunities to improve health outcomes for Vermonters,” said Tracy.

“Without this access—and the ability to ask insightful questions about different patient populations and communities—we risk overlooking critical health challenges in our catchment area. That means missed opportunities to intervene, improve outcomes, and deliver more equitable and cost-effective care,” Tracy continued.

Consequently, the adoption of secure data enclaves is expanding at other premier research universities nationwide to support a wider range of data sources. These environments are used across diverse research specialties, such as health care, as well as for administrative data, including admissions and student population metrics. Government agencies have also implemented secure data enclaves to enhance data access and foster collaboration. At UVM, one such initiative is participation in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), which focuses on advancing COVID-19 research.

As the enclave progresses through its pilot phase, efforts are under way to expand its capabilities. “The initial platform has been built and currently includes Epic health data dating back to January 1, 2020,” said Caitlyn Dayman, M.P.H., research intelligence lead for the Larner College of Medicine. 

“A data governance committee has been established,” Dayman continued, “and policies and procedures governing researcher access are under development. The Larner technical services programming team is conducting initial transformation of the data to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM). OMOP is a standardized framework for organizing and representing health care data, enabling consistent analysis across diverse sources by using common structures and vocabularies for conditions, drugs, procedures, and measurements. This harmonization supports reproducible research and facilitates large-scale collaboration.

Although the platform is still in its early stages, we anticipate opening access to more users once governance models are finalized. While the OMOP transformation will take additional time, researchers will be able to work with the raw Epic data in the interim.”

Data science is evolving at an unprecedented pace—becoming more effective, more efficient, and more strategically driven—and reshaping the future of health care. For Dayman, harnessing data that could transform how UVM’s academic health system understands the health of our population, especially in rural areas, and unlocking insights that were previously out of reach is energizing and underscores the power and potential of the enclave. 

“What excites me most about the design of the data enclave is its simplicity. It provides a single, secure space where I can collaborate with the broader research team and work with highly sensitive data in one centralized environment.”

She continued, “The research data enclave will give our researchers the ability to use raw clinical data from UVMH to complete research in a UVM environment, providing researchers with access to data and a wide variety of research tools and resources in one location. So rather than transferring data from UVMH to a secure folder on a UVM computer, researchers will be able to log in to a virtual location where they can request the data they need for a project, and then subsequently analyze and summarize it in one place. Having our clinical Epic data transformed into OMOP CDM will also allow for opportunities to collaborate with other institutions and participate in broader research initiatives.”

Dayman noted the enclave’s further impacts on UVM and UVMH researchers, including its potential for new partnerships and collaborations. “While using clinical data for research is not new, we hope the environment we have built will attract researchers because it offers them a single location and agile tools to collect, manipulate, and analyze data,” she said. “The computing environment used to build the research data enclave is also robust enough to allow for the creation of future enclave spaces for secure data storage and analysis of acquired and other external data sources, allowing us to streamline our security and build out central computing resources. Our goal is still to transform the clinical data we receive into OMOP, as it broadens our ability to collaborate with external partners.”

“Clinical data repositories play a vital role in helping health care organizations such as UVM Health improve patient care, run more efficiently, and push medical research forward,” said Ramsey Herrington, M.D., UVMH Medical Group president and CEO, UVMH chief physician executive, and Larner College of Medicine senior associate dean for clinical affairs. “By partnering with academic researchers, we tap into rigorous, science-driven approaches to solve real-world problems—specifically those affecting Vermonters—with data. A secure data enclave makes this possible by giving approved researchers safe, governed access to sensitive information to drive needed health care policy and research projects.” 

“Clinical data repositories play a vital role in helping health care organizations such as UVM Health improve patient care, run more efficiently, and push medical research forward.” 

— Ramsey Herrington, M.D., UVMH Medical Group president and CEO, UVMH chief physician executive, and Larner College of Medicine senior associate dean for clinical affairs.

UVM researchers in good standing who have completed Institutional Review Board training may request access to the research data enclave. Access to data will be granted only after a project is initiated and the required clinical data are outlined. Dayman noted, “The data governance committee is still working on finalizing these policies and formalizing the process by which users can access data, and currently those details have not been completed.”

The university’s recent R1 designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, combined with its deep expertise in health and medicine and its land-grant mission, underscores a vital responsibility: to lead innovation and advance research that addresses Vermont’s most urgent challenges—particularly in health care. The data enclave is part of a broader infrastructure supported by the UVM Office of the Vice President for Research, UVM Enterprise Technology Services, and the Vermont Advanced Computing Center. 

“Thanks in part to strong leadership and persistent advocacy, we now have a foundation that can support transformative research across disciplines—from psychiatry to data science—with a full partnership between UVM and UVMH,” said Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D., UVM’s vice president for Research and Economic Development.