Office of Data Sciences
Transforming Pediatric Research Through Data-Driven Innovation
Office of Data Sciences
The Abigail Wexner Research Institute’s Office of Data Sciences (ODS) drives the transformation of child health, pioneering AI-powered biomedical research to achieve the best outcomes for children everywhere.
Launched in 2024 to harness the transformative power of AI, ODS sits at the heart of the Nationwide Children's data science strategy. We dismantle data silos to make information, tools and resources accessible to the entire Nationwide Children’s research community and its research partners. By building the infrastructure, platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that power health and healthcare innovation, ODS unlocks the full potential of biomedical data—driving groundbreaking discoveries, developing innovative treatments and ensuring equitable health outcomes for all children.
Our Vision
Transforming pediatric research through data-driven innovation
Our Mission
Unleash the full potential of the biomedical data sciences and transformative AI to drive innovative health research, fuel the development of groundbreaking diagnostics and treatments, inform disease prevention and health promotion strategies and ensure equitable health outcomes for all people.
The Office of Data Sciences at a Glance
Data science is a cornerstone of the integration of clinical care and research and an area where Nationwide Children’s is truly leading the charge. As such, hospital leadership identified AI and Data Analytics as foundational elements of its 2026-2030 Strategic Plan, with the goal of using data and AI to impact all areas across the research and clinical enterprise.
The Office of Data Sciences was formed in 2024 to operationalize these strategic priorities, using the massive amounts of data generated in clinical and research settings to drive discovery and innovation enabled by the transformative power of AI. ODS was founded to harness this transformational technology wave at its inception, dismantle data silos, unify disparate data resources into a centralized Data Lake, and make data science expertise and tools more accessible to the research and clinical communities.
Strategic Pillars
ODS has defined four critical areas of focus:
- Data Lake: Integrating diverse data streams with advanced analytics and ML capabilities via the cloud computing to advance the cutting edge of biomedical research.
- Data Intelligence: Lowering barriers to data utilization and democratizing technology access through AI-powered tools that enable researchers to execute rigorous, reproducible data workflows.
- Data Translation: Accelerating the path from discovery to impact by strategically deploying advanced AI and data analytics that transform research findings into clinical insights.
- Data Mastery: Fostering a robust community of data science and AI expertise across the enterprise through targeted education and tools that turn foundational skills into real-world applications.
Leadership
At the heart of Dr. White’s career is a passionate commitment to enhancing children's health through the power of data science and biomedical research. Dr. White champions data-driven innovation as the inaugural Chief Data Sciences Officer of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's, developing and implementing a robust data science strategy. This involves integrating and analyzing diverse data, such as genomic data and electronic health records, to extract critical insights for diagnosing and treating pediatric diseases.
Peter is a recognized leader in biomedical data science, genomics and precision medicine. He holds the Battelle Endowed Chair in Quantitative and Computational Biology and a tenured Pediatrics professorship at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. His research program seeks to understand the genetic origins of disease, including rare genetic disorders, cardiovascular disease and pediatric cancer. His acclaimed work has earned him numerous awards, significant NIH funding and authorship of over 140 peer-reviewed publications.
As Associate Chief Data Sciences Officer for Biomedical Informatics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Dr. Bartlett helps shape data science strategy for research and clinical translation, with emphasis on electronic health record data, genomic medicine, real-world evidence, machine learning and scalable research infrastructure. At the center of Dr. Bartlett’s career is a commitment to advancing pediatric research and care through biomedical informatics, data science and rigorous computational methods. His leadership includes work on major cross-institutional data sharing initiatives such as the OSU-NCH EHR data lake called LifeScale, a consortium of 12 large pediatric hospitals sharing EHR data called PEDSnet, the OSU Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and a maternal-pediatric real-world evidence program called MPRINT.
Christopher is a recognized leader in biomedical informatics, statistical genetics and pediatric data science. He is a principal investigator in the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s and a tenured professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. His research spans pediatric disease phenotyping, electronic health record–based research, digital health, machine learning and emerging applications of quantum computing in bioinformatics. He is a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association and has received national recognition from NSF and the American Association of Medical Colleges Group on Information Resources.
Internal Collaborators
ODS partners closely with clinicians and researchers across Nationwide Children's to advance data-driven discovery and decision-making. Through collaborative project design, shared infrastructure and ongoing consultation, ODS serves as a central resource to help teams leverage data effectively, responsibly and at scale.
Featured Impact
In ODS, innovation is more than advancing technology—it's about expanding and accelerating the use of data to deliver meaningful change for the patients and families we serve. Our innovations showcase how ODS is using data and AI to drive real-world impact.
- GENIUS: An AI-powered platform that pinpoints which infants in the neonatal intensive care unit would most benefit from rapid genome sequencing. The tool integrates with the electronic medical record and re-analyzes cases as science advances–cutting diagnostic delays by more than half and doubling the number of babies who are sent for genomic testing within two weeks.
- DREAM: A generative AI tool that unlocks access to vast behavioral health data, enabling researchers to quickly uncover root causes and effective interventions for youth mental health–accelerating solutions in the nation’s largest pediatric behavioral health program.
These efforts complement the comprehensive, clinically validated suite of tools that manage the entire clinical genomics lifecycle at Nationwide Children's: from sample receipt and sequencing to final interpretation and reporting.
Awards & Recognition
ODS is nationally recognized for advancing innovation at the intersection of data science, AI, and pediatric care, earning prestigious awards and competitive funding that validates its impact. These honors highlight ODS’s leadership in translating cutting-edge AI and data capabilities into meaningful clinical breakthroughs for children and families.
- Germain Accelerator Award: Heart Center Data Lake: ODS and the Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s have secured a $600,000 Germain Accelerator award to build a comprehensive data lake that integrates genomic and clinical data to advance research and precision care in pediatric congenital heart disease.
- Gartner Eye on Innovation Award: ODS was named the 2025 Gartner Eye on Innovation Award winner for Mid-Size Enterprise in the Americas, recognizing its DREAM initiative, which uses generative AI to advance pediatric mental health research.
Inside Office of Data Sciences
Demonstration Videos
Explore a series of software demonstrations, featuring overviews and detailed walkthroughs of tools and platforms used in data science workflows.
