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September 2025 Bi-Annual Meeting

Overview

The NHLBI BioData Catalyst (BDC)® September 2025 Bi-Annual Meeting was held in-person at NHLBI’s Rockledge campus and virtually, via Microsoft Teams, on September 16-17, 2025, bringing together key stakeholders, researchers, and technical teams to discuss ongoing projects, recent advancements, and strategic priorities. Across both days, 123 individuals attended.

Day 1 centered on NHLBI’s evolving priorities and BioData Catalyst’s central role within the broader NIH data ecosystem. Updates included NHLBI’s Precision Medicine and Data Science Strategic Vision Implementation Plan (PMDS SVIP) goals, the NHLBI AI program, and the BDC Priorities Roadmap, alongside progress in TOPMed Exchange Area migration and RECOVER data integration as models for large-scale, high-priority initiatives. The BDC Data Management Core showcased the improved efficiency of Data Harmonization and previews of upcoming ecosystem integrations from the Harmonized Data Model’s Phase 1 advances, while Velsera shared progress on expanding imaging workflows. Breakout sessions covered: A) TOPMed User Consultation and direct engagement on increasing BDC touchpoints and B) BDC Developers discussing technical issues.

Day 2 featured progress updates, community insights, and forward-looking strategies to strengthen BDC. ARPA-H BDF performers shared timelines for wrapping up current iterations, with RENCI and Geneial concluding work in September 2025 and Gen3 expected to finish in December. The Growth & Retention team highlighted ecosystem usage growth, despite external challenges, and shared lessons from diverse research community engagement, underscoring the need for a standardized BDC Playbook to guide evolving user needs. AI initiative and imaging data ingest presentations demonstrated technical advances and sustainability challenges, while RAS integration planning emphasized BDC’s role as an early adopter, shaping NIH-wide implementation. NHLBI and EEP feedback encouraged greater focus on metrics, transparency, and showcasing real-world use cases, while a Fireside Chat celebrated milestones achieved, emphasized the importance of strategic planning and reinforced momentum toward positioning BDC as a “first-in-class” research community ecosystem.

Virtual Meeting Recordings

Day 1 Presentations (09/16/25)

Day 2 Presentations (09/17/25)