Abstract: Elkin

Ontology-tagged clinical data can use the power of the ontological relations to a) use natural language queries into big data bases like EHRs and b) can use the hierarchies to find the transitive reflexive closure on subsumption so that the person asking clinical research questions does not need to know all the types of Cardiovascular disorder or anti-arrhythmic drugs as the ontology can assist. The normalization of the many ways to say the same thing to a single ontology term facilitates reliable information retrieval. Coupling these characteristics with an interface that allows subject-matter experts with no computer science background to ask complex questions of clinical data and get answers within seconds.