Professors Changing Health Information Technology

Kathy Hunter brings over 40 years of experience as a nurse and researcher to her high-impact classes. Her focus is on nursing informatics system engineering, design, development, and implementation. She co-chaired the first Education Work Group of the Computer-Based Record Institute and has held several influential positions in the healthcare technology sector. She currently teaches and acts as Director for the MSN Degree Program at Chamberlain in addition to being the Director of Research for the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA). 

Dr. Bakken is an alumni professor of Nursing and current professor of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia. She is also the Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Practice in the Underserved and Reducing Health Disparities Through Informatics (RHeaDI) training programs. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles relating to nursing informatics and biomedical technologies. Bakken is currently the President of the American College of Medical Informatics (2015-2016). Her teaching has received numerous awards, including the Pathfinder Award from the Friends of the NINR in 2010. 

Dr. Aluru is a professor and the Co-Director of the Strategic Initiative in Data Engineering and Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His courses reflect his experience with bioinformatics, scientific computing, and systems biology, giving his students an unparalleled depth of knowledge in biological computing. He has won many awards, including the NSF Career Award (2007), IBM Faculty Award (2002), and a fellowship from the Government of India (2007). He also serves as an editor for the International Journal of Data Mining and Bioinformatics.

John Halamka brings his excessive experience with emergency medicine and award-winning understanding of technology to his students at Harvard. Under his leadership as CIO of the Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center in Roxbury Crossing, MA, the hospital was named Top Information Innovator by Information Week in 2012. His work with healthcare information platforms has revolutionized the healthcare industry and has given his students a front-row seat to the new era of healthcare data management.

A celebrated author, speaker, and influencer in the world of healthcare information adoption, Dr. David Blumenthal has been a leader both inside and outside of the college classroom. He was an honored professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and served as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology under President Barack Obama (2009-2011). In addition, he has authored over 250 scholarly papers regarding health IT adoption, and regularly speaks at national conventions.

Dr. Dykes has received numerous awards for her research, service, and innovation in the field of health information management. Her work with tailored fall risks interventions earned the Rita D. Zielstorff Nursing Informatics Leadership Award (2014), the Biomedical Research Institute Research Excellence Award (2010), and the Richard Nesson Award for Innovation (2011). Her books on integrating clinical pathways and electronic records are some of the most widely-used guides in the U.S., Asia, and Europe.  

Dr. Kennedy is a professor and the Department Head of Health Informatics and Information Management at Louisiana Technical University. She is very active in professional organizations in healthcare IT, serving as the President of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) in 2014, as the Chair of the Commission on Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM) in 2010, and the State President for the Louisiana Health Information Management Association (LAHIMSS). She provided testimony to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), and is regarded as an excellent and innovative teacher, earning herself the AHIMA Triumph Award for Mentoring. 

Dr. Starren's work is centered around Bioinformatics and Computational Biology which is used to engineer unique Human Computer Interfaces (HCI) which are more user-friendly and helpful for physicians. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and acts as a Director for AMIA. He has also been a guest speaker at conventions like the Pathology Informatics Summit (2014, 2015) and the American Board of Preventative Medicine (2012).

Dr. Trusko is a founding member and Board Director of the United States Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel. His background as a healthcare strategist, project manager, and quality expert has allowed him to give students a unique look into the future of healthcare information technology. He is a global lecturer and consultant in the fields of healthcare technology and quality standards.

Dr. Ranganathan (Ranga) is an acclaimed IT thought leader and teacher, as well as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Information and Decision Sciences (IDS) at UI-Chicago. Ranga is a three-time winner of the paper awards competition sponsored by the Society for Information Management, as well as the winner of the Best Teaching Case award at the International Conference on Information Systems (2003). He is a Director with the Center for Healthcare Information Management and Systems (CHIMS) and is an expert in the fields of Healthcare IT and IT implementation in health settings.

Dr. Kroth is a professor of healthcare informatics as well as the Director of the UNM Biomedical Informatics Research, Training, and Scholarship Department. He is the current Chair of the AMIA Academic Forum (2015). In addition to his healthcare technology leadership, he has published many peer-reviewed articles about how biomedical information systems can better help diagnose disease and provide medical transparency for patients. 

Not only is Dr. Sittig nationally acclaimed for his research on clinical informatics, he is regarded by his students at the University of Texas as one of the best professors on campus. In 2009, he won the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award. He has also won the HIMSS Book of the year award three times. He currently teaches Introduction to Electronic Health Records and Advanced Electronic Health Records in addition to mentoring graduate students. Sittig also sits on the Board of Directors for the AMIA.

Dr. Sarkar is the Director of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Vermont in addition to being a professor of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and Computer Science. His vast background in Biomedical Informatics and computer research focuses on the place where computer science and healthcare meet, with an emphasis on computational techniques and systems for linking molecular and public health data more efficiently. In addition, he acts as a Director for the Board of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). 

Dr. Payne serves as the Medical Director of Information Technology Services at the University of Washington Medical Center as well a professor of medicine and Bioinformatics. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Payne is the current Chair-Elect for the AMIA (2015). He has published many research papers regarding concepts like clinical computing, EMR, and CPDE. 

Dr. Mendonça's is a professor of Biostatistics, Medical Informatics, and Pediatrics. Her courses and research focus on how healthcare technology can help doctors and other professionals understand complex diseases better through computational methodologies. Her recent publications include research on mathematical models to predict cancer metastatis, bloodstream infections from catheter use, and skin cancer relapse. She also serves as the Secretary for the AMIA.