Becker's is thrilled to highlight 48 physicians and nurses who have taken the lead in clinical informatics.
The chief medical information officers, chief nurse information officers and informatics leaders featured on this list are a key liaison between clinical and IT teams to ensure technology is beneficial for clinical workflows and implemented appropriately. They lead growing teams and spearhead digital transformation projects revolutionizing healthcare delivery.
Note: This list was developed to feature executives from across the U.S. Becker's accepted nominations for this list. Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments. Click here to view nomination forms for future lists.
Jason Atkins. Chief Nursing Information and Nursing Quality Officer at Emory Healthcare (Atlanta). Mr. Atkins has a background in healthcare informatics and experience in critical care nursing, ambulatory care management and project management. He has been part of the leadership team to execute multi-million dollar projects and is skilled at building productive teams. Prior to joining Emory Healthcare in 2014, Mr. Atkins was chief health informatics officer for the New England Veterans Health Administration.
Robert Bart, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of UPMC (Pittsburgh). Dr. Bart became the chief medical information officer of UPMC in 2017 after previously serving as the first CMIO of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and chief medical officer at Cerner Corp. He oversees the health system's efforts to boost the use of EHRs and other technologies to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care. Furthermore, Dr. Bart oversees UPMC's industry-leading efforts to advance the use of EHRs.
Edwina Bhaskaran. Chief Clinical Systems and Informatics Officer of Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.). Ms. Bhaskaran is responsible for clinical informatics across Mayo Clinic's campuses. She spent nearly five years at Houston-based CommonSpirit Health as a leader in clinical informatics before joining Mayo Clinic in 2021 as chief nursing informatics officer. She became chief clinical systems and informatics officer in January. Ms. Bhaskaran also has experience at Cleveland Clinic as a member of the IT executive team that led the system through its first regional enterprise Epic implementation at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
James Blum, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of UI Health Care (Iowa City, Iowa). Dr. Blum was named CMIO of UI Health Care in December 2020 after serving as an assistant professor of anesthesia and biomedical informatics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He supports UI Health Care's efforts to develop information systems that improve care delivery. Dr. Blum is a trained computer scientist and licensed by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in clinical informatics.
Sherry Buxton. Assistant Vice President and Chief Nursing Information Officer at Orlando Health. Ms. Buxton is responsible for delivering the full suite of clinical products associated with its EHR and related IT systems. She joined Orlando Health in 1979 as a registered nurse and later earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Ms. Buxton has been in leadership roles since 1980 and is a member of the Florida Organization of Nurse Executives.
Kay Burke, BSN, RN. Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at UCSF Medical Center. Ms. Burke has been the CNIO at UCSF Medical Center since December 2017, where she arrived with five years of experience in clinical informatics at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Ms. Burke, who has more than 20 years of nursing experience, is a liaison between the nursing and IT teams to develop better clinical technologies and workflows.
William Carracino, MD. Chief Medical Informatics Officer of Lee Health (Fort Myers, Fla.). Dr. Carracino joined Lee health in 1996 and became CMIO about 10 years ago. A neurologist with an interest in computerization of health records, Dr. Carracino helped Lee Health become Epic's first community connect partner before he took on more clinical informatics responsibilities. He also works with the technology education team and leads efforts in digital transformation and virtual health.
Michelle Charles, MSN, RN-BC. Vice President of Nursing Informatics at Parkview Health (Fort Wayne, Ind.). Ms. Charles earned the Douglas J. Leonard Indiana Caregiver of the Year Award from the Indiana Hospital Association in 2021 for leading the system's COVID-19 vaccine project team. Ms. Charles and her team opened a vaccine clinic at the Parkview Mirro Center for Research and Innovation in less than a month to deliver more than 1,000 vaccines per day. Ms. Charles was the director of health informatics clinical content for Christus Health prior to joining Parkview in 2019.
Neal Chawla, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of WakeMed (Raleigh, N.C.). Dr. Chawla became the CMIO of WakeMed in 2018 with responsibility for the system's clinical informatics on technology adoption, data analytics and more. He spent a decade as associate CMIO and associate chief medical officer for clinical effectiveness at Fairfax, Va.-based Inova before coming to WakeMed.
Eric Cheng, MD. Chief Medical Informatics Officer of UCLA Health. Dr. Cheng became interim CMIO in June 2015 and stepped into the role full time a year later. He has strategic and tactical leadership for the health system's technology efforts to support UCLA health's enterprise medical and physician quality, practice and efficiency goals. He has led the health system's meaningful use and other regulatory compliance efforts, physician informaticist teams and efforts to improve clinical quality with technology.
Russ Cucina, MD. Chief Health Information Officer and Vice President for Genetic and Genomic Services of UCSF Health. Dr. Cucina is responsible for UCSF Health's analytics, software and information infrastructure and leads the clinical informatics teams. He also has executive leadership over provider services, information technologies and strategic partnerships at the system. He has more than 20 years of experience as a physician leader building a transparency-, trust-, empathy- and results-driven organization. He leads more than 400 employees working to improve the health system's business and consumer and patient experience.
Alistair Erskine, MD. Chief Digital Health Officer of Mass General Brigham (Boston). Dr. Erskine became the chief digital health officer of Mass General Brigham in 2018 after spending several years as CIO of Geisinger in Danville, Pa. He is responsible for data, technology and informatics integration at the health system with the goal of optimizing the patient experience and clinical workflows. Dr. Erskine also seeks to personalize healthcare delivery. He is a lecturer at Boston-based Harvard Medical School and is a board member of UK software company Craneware.
Babatope Fatuyi, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer at UT Health and University of Texas Houston. Dr. Fatuyi spent three years as CMIO at NYC Health + Hospitals before joining UT Health in 2019. He also was a healthcare executive and informaticist for the Advisory Board Company and a physician Epic advise for the University of Arizona Health Network. Dr. Fatuyi was instrumental in moving UT Health to a new medical record system.
Laura Fitzmaurice, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer and Associate Executive Medical Director of Children's Mercy Kansas City (Mo.). Dr. Fitzmaurice is the current chief medical information officer and associate executive medical director of Children's Mercy Kansas City. Previously, she was the division chief of emergency medical services from 2000 to 2009 and associate chair of clinical affairs for the Department of Pediatrics from 2006 to 2009. Dr. Fitzmaurice has been involved nationally in health information technology as a member of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions' advisory committee, as well as a member of the Kansas and Missouri regional Health Information Exchange-Lewis and Clark Information Exchange board.
Trish Gallagher, RN. Chief Nursing Information Officer at Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston). Ms. Gallagher joined Medical University of South Carolina in April 2022 after spending five years at Ascension, most recently as senior director of clinical products. She has experience overseeing the caregiver experience related to EHRs and technology platforms, and collaborating with senior leadership on strategic goals. Ms. Gallagher also has experience as senior director of nursing quality and informatics at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Va.
Peter Greene, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore). Dr. Greene focuses on informatics in cardiothoracic surgery and spent time as chair of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons' IT committee. He also founded the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, a community of 40 professional cardiothoracic surgery societies, where he continues to serve as executive editor. In addition, he co-founded the MedBiquitous Consortium, a nonprofit international medical professionals group to advance healthcare education with technology standards.
Joel Gordon, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of Mayo Clinic Health System (Rochester, Minn.). Dr. Gordon is a practicing family medicine physician and CMIO of Mayo Clinic Health System. His interests are in informatics and research focused on technology adoption. At Mayo, Dr. Gordon aims to use usability tactics and social engineering as well as innovation adoption to maximize the return on investment for new technologies.
Wael Haidar, MD. Chief Clinical Officer at Bon Secours Mercy Health (Marriottsville, Md.). Dr. Haidar spent 10 years at Mercy Clinics in Des Moines, Iowa, before joining Bon Secours and becoming the senior vice president of provider networks in 2017. He was then promoted to chief clinical officer with oversight over the strategic leadership of the clinical enterprise, medical informatics and population health. The health system has clinical operations at 50 hospitals and 1,200 care sites in the U.S. and Ireland.
C. William Hanson III, MD. Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at Penn Medicine (Philadelphia). In 1990, after completing medical school, residency and fellowship within the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and hospitals, Dr. Hanson joined Penn Medicine as an anesthesiologist. He became the system's CMIO in 2010 and continues to serve as a professor of anesthesiology and critical care, surgery and internal medicine. He is a member of the American Medical Center Consortium and American College of Physicians.
Vanessa Hill, MD. Chief Medical Informatics Officer at the Children's Hospital of San Antonio. Dr. Hill is a pediatric hospitalist and CMIO at the Children's Hospital of San Antonio, which is part of Irving, Texas-based Christus Health. She is also an associate professor and medical director of utilization and resource management at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Ben Hohmuth, MD. Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Geisinger (Danville, Pa.). Dr. Hohmuth spent time as the section chief of hospital medicine at Englewood (N.J) Hospital and Medical Center before joining Geisinger in the same role. He was named associate CMIO in 2017 and took on the CMIO role a year later. He aims to foster innovation for more customized care and improved workflows in the health system's EHR.
Allen Hsiao, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System. Dr. Hsiao is a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he also serves on medical informatics committees. As CMIO of the health system, he focuses on leveraging informatics and EHR to support research, optimize systems and improve care transitions. He is the primary investigator or co-investigator on multiple funded studies examining how IT can affect healthcare delivery. Dr. Hsiao also leads the medical informatics and data analytics efforts for the health system, which includes a team of more than 50 analysts in addition to database administrators and data architects.
Lauren Koniaris, MD. Vice President and Chief Medical Informatics Officer of Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Dr. Koniaris is a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician. She has been vice president and CMIO of Hackensack Meridian Health since 2018, bridging the gap between IT and clinical teams. Her efforts focus on making sure clinical workflows and processes lead to safe and effective patient care while EHRs are implemented at hospitals across the system. Under her leadership, the health system aims to leverage the EHR to positively affect care delivery.
J. Michael Kramer, MD. System Chief Medical Information Officer at OhioHealth (Columbus). Dr. Kramer became system CMIO of OhioHealth in 2017 after spending six years at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Mich., as CMIO and senior vice president and chief quality officer. He also spent more than five years as vice president and CMIO of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health. Dr. Kramer focuses on clinical informatics, evidence-based medicine and population health.
David Kuntsman, MD. Interim Chief Medical Information Officer at UW Health (Madison, Wis.). Dr. Kuntsman focuses on supporting providers transitioning to EHRs and advocates for physicians throughout the digital transformation. He was medical director of ambulatory informatics and associate CMIO for ambulatory before becoming the interim CMIO in 2021. He is a family physician with a focus on preventive care, sports-related injuries and digital imaging.
Davin Lundquist, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of Ambulatory Services at CommonSpirit Health (Chicago). Dr. Lundquist became the first chief medical information officer of ambulatory services at CommonSpirit Health in 2020. In this role, he supports a number of innovation projects in Ventura County, Calif. In addition, Dr. Lundquist joined Augmedix in 2019 as the chief medical officer. In this role, he drives technological innovation across Augmedix's product development teams while maintaining clinical quality and alignment with the fast-changing U.S. healthcare landscape.
Steve Magid, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer at Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City). Dr. Magid is a rheumatologist with a focus on improving the digital experience for patients and community members. He is a member of the American Medical Informatics Association and the Healthcare Information and Management System Society. Dr. Magid also chairs the quality research center at HSS and is co-chair of the system's quality coordinating committee.
David McSwain, MD. System Chief Medical Informatics Officer at UNC Health (Chaple Hill, N.C.). Dr. McSwain is a professor of pediatric critical care medicine at UNC Children's Hospital in addition to his role as CMIO. He is also co-founder of an organization focused on supporting pediatric research on telehealth outcomes and utilization. Dr. McSwain has experience in digital health, clinician wellness, patient engagement and patient safety. In 2018, Dr. McSwain earned the American Telemedicine Association Champion Award for innovation in telehealth.
Marianne McConnell, MN, RN. Chief Nursing Information Officer at UPMC. Ms. McConnell is responsible for improving and optimizing the EHR across UPMC facilities. She has experience implementing EHRs with a focus on clinical documentation, barcode medication administration and more. She is a certified professional in healthcare quality and fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Amy Merlino, MD. Enterprise Chief Medical Information Officer at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Merlino is a member of the obstetrics and gynecology staff at Cleveland Clinic and connects the clinical team with IT as enterprise CMIO. She became director of clinical informatics for the system in 2010 before becoming associate CMIO; Dr. Merlino was promoted to her current role in 2017. She was named to Crain's Cleveland Business' "Notable Women in Technology" list in 2018.
Wendy Mortimore, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer at UnityPoint Health (West Des Moines, Iowa). Dr. Mortimore is an internal medicine and pediatrics physician who also has an interest in technologies and clinical informatics. She works with the clinical teams on integrating the EHR into workflows and improving patient care. Dr. Mortimore spent four years as medical director of ambulatory informatics at UnityPoint Health-Meriter and then became CMIO of the system's Madison region before being promoted to her current role in 2015.
Brian Norris, RN. Vice President and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Indiana University Health (Indianapolis). Mr. Norris joined IU Health in May 2021 after spending time as senior vice president of population health at Marathon Health. Mr. Norris also has experience as vice president of business intelligence and informatics at Aledade, an ACO, and spent seven years as a board member of the Indiana HIMSS chapter. Mr. Norris also spent time as a registered nurse taking care of cardiology patients in the ICU and led the implementation of standardized ICU documentation at Lutheran Health Network.
Brett Oliver, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of Baptist Health System (Louisville, Ky.). Dr. Oliver became the chief medical information officer at Baptist Health System in 2017 after serving as a medical director at the company for several years. He is responsible for developing and implementing information technology alongside the chief information officer across the health system. In addition to providing clinical expertise to the IT team, Dr. Oliver works closely with other physicians to ensure the system's IT solutions are designed to meet the needs of staff and patients.
Jeana O'Brien, MD. Senior Vice President of Medical Informatics and Chief Medical Information Officer at Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas). Dr. O'Brien is responsible for scaling EHR implementations, governance for standardizing clinical content and integrating informatics across the health system's platforms. She oversees EHR training to engage clinicians and optimize technology. Dr. O'Brien is also focused on clinical informatics and aligning physician, nurse and ambulatory informatics with enterprisewide training.
Susan Pleasants, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of M Health Fairview (Minneapolis). Dr. Pleasants became the chief medical information officer of M Health Fairview in 2020 after spending several years as the ambulatory chief medical informatics officer at North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale, Minn. She has continuously focused on making care more accessible to patients through improved operational and technical workflows that support getting patients to the proper care setting at the right time and with the right provider. Furthermore, Dr. Pleasants continues to put focus on decreasing caregiver burnout.
Amy Rosa, DNP, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Information Officer at SCL Health (Broomfield, Colo.). Ms. Rosa joined SCL Health in 2020 after spending seven years at Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Fla., where she served as director of clinical informatics and then eventually became vice president and chief nursing information officer. She has a master's degree in medical informatics and doctorate in nursing practice.
Scott Rudkin, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer at UC Irvine (Calif.) Medical Center. Dr. Rudkin is a clinical professor of emergency medicine and CMIO at UC Irvine. He has a keen interest in ED staffing, efficiency and medical informatics. Dr. Rudkin spent 14 years as vice chair of the system's emergency medicine department before becoming the associate CMIO, and he was promoted to his current role in 2015. He is certified in clinical informatics by the American Board of Medical Specialties.
Sophia Saleem, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of Ambulatory at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Dr. Saleem became chief medical information officer of ambulatory services at Northwell Health in 2021. Her focus areas have been EMR implementation and optimization, inpatient and outpatient telemedicine implementation and optimization, validation and implementation of artificial intelligence in clinical settings, and managing priorities in ambulatory and inpatient care settings. Dr. Saleem's skills in collaboration have allowed her to implement many programs across complicated healthcare environments successfully.
Christopher Sharp, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of Stanford University Medical Center (Palo Alto, Calif.). Dr. Sharp spent time as medical director for clinical informatics and associate CMIO before being promoted to CMIO in 2013. He is also a clinical professor of medicine, primary care and population health, at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Sharp is also a faculty affiliate of the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at Stanford.
Joseph Stein. MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of Inpatient at Scripps Health (San Diego). Dr. Stein became the chief medical information officer of inpatient at Scripps Health in 2019 after serving as the medical director of EMR for nearly six years. He provided the vision for the clinical design and build of the Epic EMR. Wave 3 of activation was completed in October 2018, with all five hospitals now using Epic fully, transitioning from paper charting and orders.
Philip Styne, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of AdventHealth (Altamonte Springs, Fla.). Dr. Styne became the chief medical information officer of AdventHealth in 2017 and continues to serve as the medical director of digestive health and clinical informatics, a position he has held for more than a decade. He teaches new physicians and sees patients as medical specialist.
Donna Summers. Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Henry Ford Health System (Detroit). Ms. Summers spent time as director of clinical governance and implementation and director of quality and performance improvement at Henry Ford before she became the CNIO in 2017. Ms. Summers is a change agent for the organization and helps ensure new IT serves the health system's mission. She works closely with the nurse executive team to develop strategic goals and execute complex projects that include data analytics, IT systems, change management and evidence-based practice.
Tinu Tadese, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of University Hospitals Lake Health System (Concord, Ohio). Dr. Tadese became chief medical information officer of Lake Health System in 2021 after serving as vice president for two years. She is responsible for providing oversight of her organization's optimal use of the EHR and using technology and analytics to assist in the quality and patient safety initiatives and population health management. Dr. Tadese is skilled at using artificial intelligence to optimize clinical documentation to maximize the organization's bottom line.
Paul Testa, MD. Chief Medical Information Officer of NYU Langone Health (New York City). Dr. Testa became the chief medical information officer of NYU Langone Health in 2016 after spending several years as the medical director for clinical transformation at NYU Langone Health and as the chief of service and medical director at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. He is responsible for serving as the clinical informatics physician leader; stewarding telemedicine initiatives; and shepherding programs in clinical quality, digital patient and clinician experience, predictive analytics, and informatics research. Dr. Testa also transforms and advances how NYU Langone Health delivers care via new technologies.
Rosemary Ventura, DNP, RN-BC. Chief Nursing Information Officer at University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center. Dr. Ventura became the first chief nursing informatics officer at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in 2017 and then joined University of Rochester as CNIO in 2019. She has experience leading teams responsible for clinical applications used across health systems and physician offices. Dr. Ventura also focuses on health equity in her role.
Jeff Wajda, DO. Chief Medical Information Officer of UC Davis Health (Sacramento, Calif.). Dr. Wajda is the first physician to formally hold the title of chief medical information officer at UC Davis Health. He is responsible for the coordination, management and direction of the clinical information system within the hospital and clinics. He also helps oversee the maintenance of state-of-the-art EHRs that are clinician-friendly and thoughtfully configured.
Chuck Watson, DO. Chief Medical Information Officer of Kettering (Ohio) Health Network. Dr. Watson became the chief medical information officer of Kettering Health Network in 2009. He is also an obstetrics and gynecology physician at the system. He previously served as a board member of the Physician Hospital Alliance, Kettering's physician and membership organization, which comprises more than 1,100 Kettering physicians.
Nancy Yates, RN, RN-BC. Vice President and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer of Centura Health (Missoula, Mont.). Ms. Yakes became the CNIO of Centura Health in 2019 after spending time in the role at Providence in Renton, Wash. She has experience working with business and operational stakeholders to execute IT projects. She also leads informatics teams and aims to support nursing and interdisciplinary care partners. She promotes the safe and effective use of technology in clinical care.