Primary Department: Public Health Services
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Leah Barton - Executive Director
Secondary Department: N/A
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official:
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Contract - Award
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): William Marsh Rice University
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request for approval of a Data Sharing Agreement with William Marsh Rice University to establish a partnership that aims to investigate the impact of weather on public health outcomes in Harris County.
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Background and Discussion:
This item concerns a proposed Data Use Agreement (DUA) between Harris County Public Health (HCPH) and William Marsh Rice University in support of a collaborative research project entitled “Investigating the Impact of Weather on Public Health Outcomes in Harris County.” Historically, the Office of Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Emerging Diseases (OESED) has had limited access to integrated environmental and climate data needed to fully assess the relationship between weather events and public health outcomes. The agreement establishes the framework for securely sharing de-identified public health, mortality, climate, weather, and air quality data for research and forecasting purposes. The project builds upon ongoing county efforts to understand the relationship between environmental conditions and health outcomes, including extreme heat, hurricanes, flooding, and air quality. This agreement has been reviewed to ensure compliance with applicable privacy, security, and regulatory requirements, including HIPAA and federal research protections.
Expected Impact:
This item authorizes HCPH to work with William Marsh Rice University to better understand how weather, climate, and air quality affect the health and safety of Harris County residents. Using secure, de-identified health and mortality data combined with detailed environmental data, the project will examine how events such as extreme heat, hurricanes, flooding, and poor air quality influence emergency room visits, injuries, and deaths. The purpose is to develop tools and forecasts that help public health officials prepare for and respond to these risks more effectively. This collaboration supports informed decision-making, improves emergency preparedness, and helps protect vulnerable communities. It ensures that the County uses scientific evidence to guide planning, policy development, and resource allocation in the face of climate-related challenges.
Alternative Options:
An alternative to approving the proposed Data Use Agreement would be to continue relying on publicly available or internally held environmental and health data sources without formal data sharing with William Marsh Rice University. However, this approach would limit OESED’s ability to access comprehensive, high-resolution climate, weather, and air quality data and would restrict opportunities for advanced analysis and forecasting. Another option would be to pursue separate, project-specific data requests, which would increase administrative burden, delay research timelines, and potentially introduce data inconsistencies. Taking no action would impede Harris County’s ability to fully assess the public health impacts of environmental conditions, reduce the effectiveness of preparedness and response efforts, and limit the overall value of ongoing public health research initiatives.
County Strategic Plan Goal: 5. Minimize the impact of climate change and disasters.
County Strategic Plan Objective: S: Equitably reduce the health, economic, and other impacts of climate change and disasters.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): Choose an item.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): Choose an item.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): Choose an item.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): Choose an item.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): Choose an item.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): Choose an item.
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
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Anticipated Court Date: 2/26/2026
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 2/26/2026
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Jennifer Kiger, MPH, Director, Office of Epidemiology, Surveillance and Emerging Diseases, Public Health Services
Attachments (if applicable): Data Use Agreement