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Student demonstrates NIH’s Common Data Elements repository and search tips
Summary
Bri Hails, a Simmons University MLIS student and NNLM Region 3 awardee, demonstrated the NIH Common Data Elements (CDE) repository (cde.nlm.nih.gov), described CDE anatomy and NIH endorsement criteria, and highlighted practical search strategies, account features and implementation challenges.
Bri Hails, a 2025 NNLM Region 3 student development awardee and Master of Library and Information Science student at Simmons University, presented the NIH Common Data Elements (CDE) repository and demonstrated how researchers and practitioners can find and reuse standardized data elements at cde.nlm.nih.gov.
Hails defined a CDE as "the standardized precisely defined question paired with a specific set of allowable responses" and described related constructs—forms (sets of CDEs) and bundles (formalized grouped forms that must be used together). She told attendees the repository contains large numbers of CDEs and said there are "22,743 CDEs available from 19 different stewarding organizations."
Hails walked through the repository homepage and described features that help researchers find appropriate elements: NIH‑endorsed badges, stewards, registration status (standard or qualified), data types and permissible value lists. She demonstrated search strategies (Boolean operators, wildcards and bracket logic), the site’s summary and table views and how to customize columns to surface useful metadata such as permissible values, steward and last update date.
On a sample CDE page Hails explained the page anatomy—question text, data type, steward information, concept identifiers (NCI Thesaurus, SNOMED, LOINC), attachments (downloadable English and Spanish forms), related linked forms and a change log that records publication date, views and edits. She also highlighted account features (pin/save, boards for curated collections, export functions and organization‑level curation) and recommended that researchers pay attention to stewarding organization and licensing when choosing elements for reuse.
Hails warned about implementation limitations: updating CDEs can be slow because stewards are often large organizations, many similar CDEs exist requiring careful selection, and backend integration can require manual mapping by developers. In a Q&A she recommended messaging the repository’s main benefits to researchers as: standardized, interoperable and reusable data that reduces normalization work and supports FAIR principles.
Hails concluded by citing NNLM/NIH CDE training and repository guides as resources, invited collaboration and shared contact options. Organizers then closed the webinar and provided evaluation and CE details.
