Bridging clinical research and the learning health system
Provincial Research Data Services exists to make Alberta's health data usable for research that improves patient outcomes and experiences. We are the team between a researcher's question and the province's data — and we take the responsibility that comes with that seriously.
Data that's cared for, so research can be trusted.
Health data only becomes evidence when someone standardizes it, links it, and stewards it with rigor. That's our work. We partner with researchers across their whole journey — designing feasible studies, accessing and linking the right sources, and analyzing them with methods that hold up.
By connecting clinical research with the learning health system, we help turn everyday health-system data into insights that can change care for Albertans.
An embedded team, inside the system
PRDS isn't a data broker at arm's length. Our analysts work within Alberta Health Services, as part of the AbSPORU support unit — close to the data, the governance, and the people who use both.
Master's & PhD analysts
A senior team trained in epidemiology, biostatistics, and data science — completing mandatory privacy training and confidentiality agreements before touching health data.
Two hubs, one province
Analysts based in Edmonton and Calgary serve researchers across Alberta and the Northwest Territories, so provincial data speaks one consistent language.
Part of AbSPORU
We sit within the Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit's research services — connected to design, patient-engagement, and knowledge-translation expertise when your study needs it.
Guided by people who know the data
Dr. Jeff Bakal, PhD, P.Stat.
A professional statistician, Dr. Bakal leads Provincial Research Data Services within Alberta Health Services, overseeing the SPOR data platform and the team of analysts who help researchers turn Alberta's administrative and clinical data into evidence. His work spans study design, data linkage, and the methods that keep secondary-data research rigorous and reproducible.
Behind the director is a group of senior analysts and data scientists who do the daily work of extraction, linkage, algorithm development, and analysis — the quiet craft that makes every research answer possible.
Connected across Alberta — and beyond.
Good research is rarely solitary. PRDS partners with major Canadian universities and research organizations, and connects investigators with provincial and national collaborators — so a study started in Alberta can reach the scale and comparison it needs.
Holding health data in trust
Every record we handle was created in the course of someone's care. These principles guide how we — and the researchers we support — treat it.
- Access only what the approval coversExtractions are scoped to the cohort, variables, and time window that ethics and operational review specify.
- De-identify before releaseDirect identifiers are removed, and re-identification is never attempted.
- Protect what's heldData stays secure, limited to the named research team, under an executed data-handling agreement.
- Report responsiblySmall cell counts are suppressed or aggregated so no individual can be inferred from results.
- Steward through to disposalRecords are retained only as long as ethics and funders require, then securely destroyed.
Let's put Alberta's data to work for patients.
If you have a research question and need trusted, linked health data behind it, we'd like to help.