All UPDB requests are initiated via the UPDB Service Desk. For charged services, a chartfield will be requested.
Summary of UPDB Charges |
|
|---|---|
Preparation Services |
Cost |
IDEA meeting |
No charge |
Director's consultation |
No charge |
UPDB-L feasibility (self-service) |
No charge |
Customized feasibility |
Hourly charges |
Protocol writing (new RGE application) |
Flat fee |
Protocol amendment |
Hourly charges |
Standard Services |
Cost |
Linking external data to UPDB |
Hourly charges |
Dataset construction |
Hourly charges |
Analysis support |
Hourly charges |
FY27 costs
(July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027)
Hourly rate: $165
Flat fee: $3,300 (protocol writing only)
For research teams external to the University of Utah, additional data access fees may apply.
Fees and hourly rates increase annually on July 1 (usually ~3% per year).
Requests are queued and prioritized in order of receipt.
Standard services that include individual-level data are fulfilled only after RGE approval, an ancillary regulatory application to an IRB protocol. Service requests begin with a kick-off meeting and discussion of milestones. If cost is a limiting factor, this process can be used to nuance scope.
Customized feasibility services of aggregate data (a “pre-research” request) for extramural grant submissions may be permitted a waiver of 12 hours and fast-tracked, where possible.
Preparation Services
IDEA meetings are led by the UPDB Director/Associate Directors and include experienced regulatory staff. The meeting includes a brief presentation describing the UPDB resource and approval process and then explores the investigator’s specific study design and aims. No charge.
Director consultations involve deeper discussions with the UPDB Directors. This type of meeting is often used to support grant ideas and submissions. No charge.
UPDB-L self-service feasibility is a web tool for simple queries and summary counts. It is available with simple self-registration and does not require an IRB protocol. Access to UPDB-L gives an investigator the ability to identify sample sizes for their study. No charge.
Customized feasibility or “pre-research” requests are serviced by UPDB data engineers and biostatisticians to generate deidentified summaries. Pre-research requests do not require an IRB protocol. UPDB manage communication with RGE to gain approval. Charged hourly. At the discretion of UPDB, 12 hours may be forgiven for extramural grants that include a budget for UPDB and for which a valid grant mechanism and submission date can be provided. UPDB Service Desk
Protocol writing offers expert support to develop IRB protocols that include use of UPDB data and thus require the ancillary RGE application. This service includes study design, study procedures, analysis planning, selection of UPDB data sources, completion of data source-specific request sheets, determination of data storage locations, and support of the online ERICA system. Assistance in creation of new protocols is offered as a flat fee. Assistance with amendments is charged hourly. UPDB Service Desk
Note: UPDB has no role in the approval process. Protocol approval is the purview of the IRB and RGE.
Standard Services
Linking external data to UPDB. UPDB supports linkage to individuals in an investigator’s study, such as consented participants. The linkage service enables powerful “hybrid studies”, including gene discovery studies, that bring together specific participants, familial structure, and investigator-generated genetic/genomic data. Linking requests are serviced by the UPDB record-linkers. Charged hourly. UPDB Service Desk
Dataset construction. UPDB data engineers assemble cohorts, extract data elements, and construct analytic datasets from UPDB in-house data sources (including from: Utah Cancer Registry, All Payer Claims Data, Healthcare Facility Data, and state vital records). UPDB biostatisticians work closely with data engineers to quality-control and provide analysis-ready files. Charged hourly. UPDB Service Desk
UPDB maintains a crosswalk to patients in the University of Utah Health and Intermountain Health systems, but data teams at those organizations are responsible for data extraction from their systems. For University of Utah Health data, a request to Data Science Services (DSS) is required. For Intermountain Health data, a collaborator at Intermountain Health is required. Both DSS and Intermountain Health charge for their services, separate from UPDB. Once these additional requests have been initiated, UPDB will coordinate the assembly of the final dataset.
Analysis support. Broadly, UPDB biostatisticians conduct analyses that specifically leverage the genealogical and residential history data in UPDB or that require UPDB in-house tools. Examples include but are not limited to: assessing risks in relatives (such as, familial relative risk); identification of high-risk pedigrees (such as, familial standardized incidence); gene mapping (such as, shared genomic segment); pedigree drawing and annotation; geo-linked contextual data layers; and geographic clustering. Services include study design, analysis, interpretation, support for publications and presentations. Charged hourly. UPDB Service Desk
Contact Us
Utah Population Database Director
Nicola Camp, PhD
Utah Population Database Operations Manager
Dinah Busico, MPA
Governance
HCI Senior Director Oversight
Tracy Onega, PhD, MS
Faculty Advisory Committee Chair
Anne Kirchhoff PhD
Faculty Advisory Committee Members
Djin Tay, PhD
Britton Trabert, PhD
Joshua Schiffman, MD
Arabella Young, PhD
Srinivas Tantravahi, MBBS, MRCP
Amanda Bakian, PhD
David Curtis, PhD
Mick Jurynec, PhD
Joemy Ramsay, PhD
Lauren Theilen, MD
Marcus Pezzolesi, PhD