· Milestones · 1 min read
Award Setup Complete — Partner Site Planning Begins
With award setup materials submitted and infrastructure partnerships forming, the UT-REAL consortium transitions from setup to active Phase 1 planning.
The UT-REAL consortium has completed its award setup phase, with budget, milestones, and administrative materials submitted to the UT System on March 27, 2026.
Key developments in the opening weeks include:
- Infrastructure partnerships forming: Engagement with the UT Health Intelligence Platform (UT-HIP) for centralized, HITRUST-certified data hosting, and with UTSW Enterprise Data Services for local storage and ingestion support.
- Azure credits pursued: A request for approximately $100K in Azure/Microsoft credits has been submitted to support cloud infrastructure across the consortium.
- IRB groundwork underway: The UTSW IRB template protocol — which will serve as the model for all partner sites — has been submitted and is pending review.
- Team infrastructure: Project Coordinator Tra Ngo, PhD has been onboarded, and a standing weekly meeting has been established for the core team.
The consortium is now preparing site inventory questionnaires and governance documentation in advance of the UT REAL Technology Assessment Session.