The Human Imaging Research Office, or HIRO, was created in early 2009 by the Biological Science Division's Imaging Research Institute. It is intended to be the facilitator, or "go-between," for clinical trials and research protocols that require radiology and imaging exams for their subjects. In this regard, the HIRO's goal is to make this process more efficient and accurate and to provide investigators with a wide selection of human research imaging services.The HIRO was created with three principal responsibilities, each of which defines the primary function of a separate operational arm: (1) coordinating the acquisition of imaging data for clinical trials in a manner consistent with trial protocol, (2) providing assessment and measurement of disease response for clinical trials in a consistent and coherent manner, and (3) managing and distributing clinical image data for research studies in an IRB- and HIPAA-compliant manner.

• The Image Acquisition Arm is responsible for coordinating any issues related to the planning and execution of research-related human imaging. This includes protocol preparation and review with the principal investigator and his/her team, imaging protocol coordination with clinical and research radiology staff, scan scheduling and billing coordination, resource and data management, and quality assurance.
• The Image Measurement and Analysis Arm is responsible for providing investigators with tumor and lesion measurement data in a consistent and efficient manner. This includes ensuring that measurements are made in accordance with the study protocol's specific requirements (e.g., RECIST), providing consistent measurements for follow-up scans, and ensuring that required measurement data is completed and delivered in a timely fashion.
• The Image Collection and Database Arm is responsible for providing researchers with "de-identified" (or "anonymized") consented patient information and medical images for use in biomedical research. The image collection arm interacts with the acquisition arm as well to provide support and data delivery services for prospective clinical trials, and it is involved with several data mining projects with the Radiology Informatics team. The image collection arm also provides radiology images and related data to the CRDW Team in support of data requests when needed.

For detailed information concerning the services the HIRO provides, please see the Services section of this website. For information about the HIRO's leadership and staff, including contact information and office locations, please see the People section of this website. To acknowledge the HIRO in academic publications or presentations, please utilize the guidelines found here. For questions or comments, please contact hirohelp [at] uchicago [dot] edu.