WHI Data Use Agreement
Researchers are granted access to WHI datasets for their manuscript proposals that have been reviewed and approved by the WHI Publications & Presentations (P&P) Committee. For information on the process of proposing a research project using WHI Data, please see our Propose a Paper page and our Plan an Ancillary Study page.
Once you have an approved paper proposal, you may submit a Data Use Agreement (DUA) to the WHI Help Desk (helpdesk@whi.org) and gain data access. WHI policy is to grant one 90-day period of data download access to the lead author of a manuscript (or at times, suite of manuscripts).
WHI Data Use Agreement
For P&P approved manuscript proposals that use data from the WHI Investigator Datasets or WHI Ancillary Studies, follow guidelines on the Propose a Paper page and/or Plan an Ancillary Study page.
Download the WHI DUA as a Word Document or PDF and return the completed form to helpdesk@whi.org.
Consortium Data Use Agreement
For projects that involve combining WHI data with data from other cohorts, please follow approval procedures on our Consortia/Pooling Project Guidelines and Procedures page.
When the appropriate reviews have been completed, download the Consortium DUA and return the completed form to helpdesk@whi.org
Statement on the Use of AI tools:
The use of AI tools (like ChatGPT, Google Bard, natural language processing (NLP) servers, and others) is increasing rapidly in the research sphere. One concern for WHI is how these tools protect the security and privacy of the information they collect. Many AI vendors state that they will use content entered into their services to train AI models, meaning data entered into the AI product could be accessed by subsequent users of the product or could be vulnerable to a data breach at the AI vendor. Additionally, many of these AI vendors are external service providers and therefore operate outside of the governance of institutional data policies and agreements.
When an investigator signs a data use agreement (DUA) to gain access to WHI data, they agree not to share data with commercial entities or anyone else without authorization from WHI. Be aware that entering any individual-level WHI data (or unpublished summarized data) into an external AI tool could constitute a disclosure of data that is not compliant with your DUA and not consistent with participant consent. The few exceptions to this would require a signed legal agreement between your institution and the AI vendor and would need WHI review.
Questions about usage of AI and machine-learning tools related to WHI data should be directed to the WHI Help Desk (helpdesk@whi.org).
