Laying a Community-Based Foundation for Data-Driven Semantic Standards in Environmental Health Sciences.

Background:Despite increasing availability of environmental health science (EHS) data, development, and implementation of relevant semantic standards, such as ontologies or hierarchical vocabularies, has lagged. Consequently, integration and analysis of information needed to better model environmental influences on human health remains a significant challenge.Objectives:We aimed to identify a committed community and mechanisms needed to develop EHS semantic standards that will advance understanding about the impacts of environmental exposures on human disease.Methods:The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences sponsored the “Workshop for the Development of a Framework for Environmental Health Science Language” hosted at North Carolina State University on 15–16 September 2014. Through the assembly of data generators, users, publishers, and funders, we aimed to develop a foundation for enabling the development of community-based and data-driven standards that will ultimately improve standardizat...