ClinEX: making medical research easier to find and use

ClinEX - Clinical Evidence Extraction, Representation, and Appraisal

['FUNDING_R01'] · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · NIH-11144971

This project builds computer tools to pull together and explain COVID-19 and other medical research so patients, caregivers, and clinicians can find reliable evidence faster.

Quick facts

Phase['FUNDING_R01']
Study typeNih_funding
SexAll
SponsorCOLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES (nih funded)
Locations1 site (NEW YORK, UNITED STATES)
Trial IDNIH-11144971 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this research studies

From my perspective, the team is creating automated methods that read many kinds of medical reports—peer-reviewed papers, preprints, trial registries, data repositories, and other online sources—and turn them into searchable, computable evidence. They will use natural language processing and structured data methods to extract key findings, quality signals, and relationships across studies. The project also aims to rate or flag the reliability of different sources so people can tell which results are more trustworthy. The end goal is user-friendly summaries and tools that help patients and clinicians locate solid COVID-19 evidence without wading through raw papers.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Ideal participants would be people affected by COVID-19, caregivers, patient advocates, or clinicians who want better summaries of the latest research and who can give feedback or use the tools.

Not a fit: People with conditions not covered by the project or those who do not rely on research summaries for care decisions may see little direct benefit.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, patients could find trustworthy, up-to-date COVID-19 evidence more quickly, helping them and their clinicians make better-informed decisions.

How similar studies have performed: Previous systematic-review groups and NLP tools have helped summarize medical literature, but combining and appraising large amounts of non-peer-reviewed COVID-19 sources at scale is relatively new and still being proven.

Where this research is happening

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.

View on NIH RePORTER →

Last reviewed 2026-05-15 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.