MN Health System Joins Research Network to Advance Precision Medicine

Allina Health, a Minnesota-based health system with 12 hospital campuses and over 90 clinics throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin, has joined the Guardian Research Network (GRN) to expand its translational research capabilities, particularly in precision medicine.

Translational research leverages insights from clinical trials and patient studies to gather information about diseases, uncover potential treatments, and advance existing targeted therapies. The press release notes that by translating research insights into the clinical setting, health systems can improve care in various disease areas.

"Specifically, GRN is relevant for the Allina Health Cancer Institute (AHCI) and for other areas of non-cancer research, including cardiovascular and neuroscience," said Badrinath Konety, MD, president of AHCI and chief academic officer at Allina Health, in the press release. "Cancer is primarily a disease of genetic abnormalities. GRN has the data and tissue for potential research that can drive precision medicine and help to recognize disease-causing variants."

According to the press release, GRN offers Allina and its other member health systems complex real-world data (RWD), which they can use to answer research questions in oncology, diabetes, rare diseases, and other genetic conditions. In turn, health systems contribute RWD to GRN to grow its datasets while studying diagnostic and pharmaceutical developments that may benefit their patient populations.

"GRN helps us keep patients close to home by offering our patients a chance to participate in trials that are unique, including those complementing Allina Health's Population Health strategy," said Mike Koroscik, vice president, oncology at Allina Health, in the press release. "GRN will accelerate needed precision medicine and translational trial access, broadening our research offerings. These novel clinical trials are usually only available in major academic medical centers, but GRN makes them accessible at all of our AHCI sites in the region."

Currently, GRN’s consortium membership consists of life sciences organizations and health systems with patients in 32 states.

"We're excited to bring Allina Health into the GRN network," said Shirley Trainor-Thomas, vice president, Partner Network of GRN, in the press release. "The oncology efforts of the AHCI combined with Allina Health's research expertise in other areas is a testament to their commitment to improving patient outcomes, promoting health, and raising awareness about the importance of genetic data and diagnosis in healthcare."

GRN is one of multiple healthcare research-focused consortia making strides in population health.

In July, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) awarded nearly $8 million to expand the INSIGHT Clinical Research Network, a Weill Cornell-led database containing EHR and clinical trial data from 15 million patients at five of New York City’s most prominent academic medical centers.

The network has increased data sharing city-wide, supporting research and insights into healthcare quality and cost, provision of health services, and relationships between health outcomes and social determinants of health (SDOH), such as employment, housing, and access to health services.

The $8 million renewal aims to bolster studies using artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze health data and support clinical trials and research studies on health interventions already being used in a real-world setting.