Emory teams turn health data into research at EPIC Cosmos Datathon
August 27, 2026 Wade Moricle
Emory researchers, clinicians and data experts gathered Aug. 4-5 for the EPIC Cosmos Datathon, a collaborative event designed to accelerate health research through one of the nation's largest sources of electronic health record data.
Hosted through a partnership among Emory Digital, the Emory Health Services Research Center and the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance, the event gave participants hands-on access to EPIC Cosmos, a de-identified database containing information from more than 300 million patient records nationwide.
Working in multidisciplinary teams, participants spent two days exploring research questions that could benefit from large-scale clinical data, transforming ideas into potential studies while learning new approaches to data-driven investigation.
“There's no other event like this where hours of time are blocked off with a bunch of other highly skilled people to concentrate on one specific problem,” said Leila Susan Hojat, associate professor of emergency medicine in the School of Medicine. “You’re able to see how others think and approach a challenge.”
The datathon was designed not only to introduce researchers to EPIC Cosmos’s capabilities, but also to foster new collaborations across the university and health system. Organizers encouraged teams to combine clinical expertise, research experience and technical skills to tackle questions with real-world implications for patient care.
One of the top projects focused on severe maternal health complications following childbirth. Using EPIC Cosmos’s extensive dataset, the team explored patterns and outcomes at a scale that would have been difficult to achieve using local data alone. Their work produced promising early findings and established a foundation for future research.
For many participants, the event demonstrated how access to broader datasets can speed the path from research question to discovery. Rather than spending months assembling data, teams were able to evaluate ideas, identify trends and refine study concepts within days.
Organizers hope the datathon will serve as a model for future collaborative research initiatives at Emory, helping investigators uncover new insights while strengthening connections across disciplines.
By bringing together people, data and innovative thinking, the EPIC Cosmos Datathon highlighted the growing role of large-scale health data in advancing research and improving patient outcomes.
To read more details about the event, visit the Office of Information Technology’s Byte-Sized News page.
Photos by Wade Moricle.
