About Us | Trauma Data Institute

About the Trauma Data Institute

The Trauma Data Institute (TDI) is a non-profit organization founded in 2021, dedicated to improving research data practices in the traumatic stress field. To achieve this, TDI collaborates with researchers around the world and works in partnership with international organizations such as the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress.

The ultimate objective of this work is to enable research advances that impact practice - to better address the impact of trauma for individuals and communities.

TDI aims to enable responsible data stewardship, expert data curation, and widespread data preservation, sharing, and re-use in the traumatic stress field.

TDI supports the creation, maintenance, and dissemination of tools, infrastructure, and training that make FAIR data practices feasible for the traumatic stress research community worldwide.

Action

TDI partners with the research community to build tools and infrastructure and to provide training in FAIR data practices for traumatic stress researchers.

Respect

TDI commits to honor the contribution of research participants to our field’s data resources and to promote data practices that take social justice into account.

Vision

Our vision is a future in which traumatic stress research data from around the world are FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable), and use of these data enables advances in understanding and addressing the impact of trauma exposure for children, adults, and communities.

Community

The traumatic stress research community worldwide includes researchers (at all career stages including trainees), research institutions, scientific societies, scientific journals, publishers, and other stakeholders.

Meet our Team

Board Member

Yaara Sadeh, PhD

Dr. Sadeh is an active researcher, conducting studies of child trauma and advancing FAIR Data methods. She has led projects related to the development of taxonomies and coding schemes for trauma intervention studies, data harmonization efforts for measures of post-trauma mental health, and integration of cross-study data to understand trajectories of trauma and depression symptoms in children and adolescents.

She leads the “Findable Trauma Data” project for the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress and has been active in engaging trainees and other early career researchers in use of FAIR data via the Paper-in-a-Day initiative at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Dr. Sadeh is an Assistant Professor in the University of Haifa School of Social Work in Israel.

Founder & Director, Board Member

Nancy Kassam-Adams, PhD

Dr. Kassam-Adams is a researcher and an advocate for FAIR data practices – believing that when our scientific research data are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable, we can accelerate advances in science and practice to benefit individuals and communities impacted by trauma. She founded the Trauma Data Institute (TDI) as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving research data practices in the traumatic stress field.

Her substantive research over the past 25+ years has focused on understanding risk and resilience after trauma exposure, especially in children and families. In addition to TDI, she leads several international collaborative efforts to facilitate FAIR data practices in the traumatic stress field, including the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress’ FAIR Data Theme, and the Child Trauma Data Archives project.

Dr. Kassam-Adams serves on the Advisory Board of the GALENOS Mental Health Ontology project and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the APRICOT project which is advancing ontology tools for health behavior research. She is a Past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS).

Data and Projects Coordinator

Leila Graham

Ms. Graham is an experienced project coordinator and data manager. She has coordinated clinical traumatic stress research studies as well as data archiving and harmonization projects.

She has been integrally involved in managing data integration and harmonization for a range of types of research data (surveys, electronic health record data, observational coding of behavior), as well as developing and managing online tools for use in research and dissemination. Ms. Graham is currently pursuing graduate studies in psychology.

About the photos on this site.

Many of the photos and images used in this site echo shapes and patterns of data tables or data visualizations, as reflected in the natural world, the built environment, or in art. All photos / images on this site by TDI team members, unless otherwise noted.