March 12, 2025

On March 4, Drexel University College of Medicine hosted the PA TriNetX Symposium at the Study Hotel in University City. The event brought together 65 attendees from Pennsylvania organizations that use the TriNetX research platform, to network, share ideas and foster future collaboration. TriNetX is a worldwide repository of clinical data, offering access to insights from more than 250 million patients spanning hundreds of national and global health care organizations.

The event included presentations from a range of experts from Drexel and TriNetX, as well as the Penn State College of Medicine, Tower Health, Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Allegheny Health Network. It was spearheaded by the College of Medicine’s Office of the Senior Vice Dean for Research, and co-organized and co-chaired by Janet Matthews, MSN, RN, senior director, research program development at Drexel, and Andreia McKenzie-Hatter, senior healthcare partnership manager at TriNetX.

“I am incredibly proud of how Drexel medical students are leveraging TriNetX to expand research opportunities with real-world data,” Matthews says. “The enthusiasm and insights from our attendees reaffirm the importance of data-driven research in advancing medicine.”

The day’s agenda and objectives were introduced by Kenny Simansky, PhD, senior vice dean for research at the College of Medicine, Matthews, and representatives from TriNetX including John Esposito, senior director, U.S. healthcare partnerships, and McKenzie-Hatter.

After opening remarks from Charles B. Cairns, MD, the Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and senior vice president of medical affairs, the program included presentations and panel discussions on topics including clinical data analysis, compliance and medical students’ use of TriNetX.

Two medical students presented research they conducted using TriNetX, including Andrew Murdock, MD ’27, who discussed his project "Isotretinoin and iPLEDGE Reform: A Gender-Inclusive Analysis Over Time” with the attendees.

 

Reflecting on the importance of the event in expanding student research, Kenny Simansky, PhD, senior vice dean for research at the College of Medicine, says, “TriNetX has offered unprecedented clinical research opportunities for Drexel medical students, and we are working to extend use of the platform to our graduate students, to give them a resource of real-world data to drive their translational research.” He adds, “We were thrilled to bring together these institutions to learn from one another and build community around this powerful platform.”