FPF Announces Recipients of the Third Annual Award for Research Data Stewardship

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) — a global non-profit focused on data protection headquartered in Washington, D.C. — announced the winners of the third annual Award for Research Data Stewardship. 

FPF is a long-standing advocate for privacy-protective data sharing by industry to the research community to advance scientific insights and drive progress in medicine, public health, education, social science, and many other fields. FPF established the Award for Research Data Stewardship in 2020 to recognize companies and academics that demonstrate innovative approaches and best practices for sharing private, corporate data to advance scientific knowledge. 

With the third-annual Award for Research Data Stewardship, FPF honors two teams of researchers and corporate partners for their commitment to privacy and ethical uses of data in their efforts to help with emergencies related to diseases and natural disasters. The winning team is a collaboration between the Mayo Clinic researchers led by Rozalina McCoy, MD, MS, and health services company Optum. The honorable mention is a collaboration between Assistant Professor Xilei Zhao, PhD, at the University of Florida and location intelligence company Gravy Analytics. These partnerships were awarded based on the strength of their research, adherence to privacy protection in the sharing process, and the company’s commitment to supporting academic research. 

“Our panel of judges were incredibly impressed reading through each meaningful and forward-thinking data-sharing partnership,” said Shea Swauger, FPF’s Senior Researcher for Data Sharing and Ethics. “Data plays a significant role in social progress. When companies share data responsibly with academic researchers, they can unlock new scientific insights, expand human knowledge and provide solutions to society’s most difficult challenges.”

Winner: Mayo Clinic and Optum:
“Predicting the Risk of Severe Hypoglycemic and Hyperglycemic Events in Adults with Diabetes”

• Diabetes affects more than 37 million people across the United States, making it the country’s most common and costly chronic disease. Despite advances in the science of diabetes therapy, rates of diabetes complications have not improved over the past decade, especially as it relates to garnering glycemic control to avoid severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. With little research about acute hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic diabetes complications available, many clinicians lack a practical and reliable means to identify patients at the highest risk for severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, preventing the ability of the patient to individualize glycemic goals and therapy. Winners Mayo Clinic and Optum addressed these critical gaps in diabetes management by examining the epidemiology of severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia in the U.S. through risk prediction models using real-world data from Optum to emulate clinical trials of interventions to improve glycemic control and reduce risks of severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.

Honorable Mention: University of Florida Transportation Institute Partnership with Gravy Analytics: “Using Location Analytics to Enhance Natural Disaster Emergency Response Planning and Management”

• To gain insight into the evacuation behaviors of those impacted by the 2019 Kincade Fire, UFTI researchers worked with Gravy Analytics to secure trusted human mobility data for their study. Gravy Analytics provided UFTI researchers with its Observations Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) product for mobile devices seen in the evacuation zone and surrounding area during the period of the wildfire. With Gravy Observations data, UFTI researchers were able to isolate the human mobility data and examine the movement of local residents before, during, and after the fire.

The Award is a part of FPF’s “Corporate Data Sharing for Research: Next Steps in a Changing Legal and Policy Landscape” project to accelerate the safe and responsible sharing of privacy-protected data between companies and academic researchers. This project is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a non-profit grantmaking institution whose mission is to enhance the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge.

FPF’s Award Ceremony will be held virtually on May 10, 2023, and is free for anyone interested in learning more about these winning programs and data sharing. Register for the event here to RSVP.