Not all physicians dedicate their skills solely to clinical responsibilities. Many hospital and health system C-suites are staffed by physician executives. Here are 10 physicians who serve as CIOs.
If you would like to recommend a physician CIO for this list, please email Carrie Pallardy at cpallardy@beckershealthcare.com.
Bobbie Byrne, MD, MBA, Vice President and CIO of Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare (Naperville and Elmhurst, Ill.). Dr. Bryne has been with Edward Hospital since 2009. She is the system vice president and CIO of EEH, a three hospital system. As CIO, she oversees all information technology, applications and biomedical engineering for the health system. She has past experience as the senior vice president and general manager of clinical solutions for Eclipsys Corporation, now Allscripts. Dr. Byrne earned her medical degree at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and her MBA at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Ill.
Marc Chasin, MD, Vice President and CIO/CMIO of St. Luke's Health System (Boise, Idaho). Dr. Chasin has been with St. Luke's since 2010. He also serves as the chair of Epic System's Care Everywhere Network, a framework for interoperability. He is a CHIME-certified healthcare CIO. Dr. Chasin also has experience serving on the board of the Idaho Health Data Exchange and as a member of the National HIE Governance Steering Committee. Prior to joining St. Luke's, Dr. Chasin was CMIO of Bon Secours Charity Health System in Suffern, N.Y.
Jeff Ferranti, MD, MS, Vice President of Medical Informatics and CIO of Duke University Health System (Durham, N.C.). As CIO and vice president of medical informatics, Dr. Ferranti is responsible for planning and implementing integrated technology and information solutions. He led the enterprise-wide implementation of the Epic EHR at Duke. He also practices as a neonatologist with Duke Medicine. Dr. Ferranti earned a master's degree in biomedical engineering and medical informatics from the Duke Pratt School of Engineering in Durham. He earned his medical degree at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He then completed his residency and fellowship training at Duke.
James S. Fine, MD, CIO of University of Washington Medicine (Seattle). In addition to serving as CIO of UW Medicine, Dr. Fine is also a professor, chairman and Paul E. Strandjord and Kathleen J. Clayson Endowed Chair in the department of laboratory medicine. He has been CIO with the academic health system since July 2005. In this role, he oversees IT for the University of Washington Medical Center and School of Medicine, UW Neighborhood Clinics and UW Physicians.
John Halamka, MD, Senior Vice President of Information Systems and CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston). Dr. Halamka also serves as chairman and president of the New England Healthcare Exchange Network and vice chair of the Health IT Standards Committee, which makes recommendations to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Additionally, he is co-chair of the Massachusetts HIT Advisory Committee, a Harvard Medical School professor and practicing emergency room physician. Dr. Halamka also has a blog, "Life as a Healthcare CIO."
C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, Chairman of the Information Technology Division and CIO of Cleveland Clinic. In addition to his CIO duties, Dr. Harris is also the executive director of e-Cleveland Clinic, a series of e-health clinical programs offered online. In addition to his roles with Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Harris serves on HHS' Health IT Standards Committee, which makes recommendations to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. He received a presidential appointment to the Congressional Commission on Systemic Interoperability, which was created to develop strategies for improved healthcare information access. Dr. Harris is a former advisor to the director of the National Institutes of Health.
Pravene Nath, MD, CIO of Stanford (Calif.) Health Care. Dr. Nath served as CMIO of Stanford Health Care from 2008 to 2013 and then became CIO. Under his leadership as CIO, Stanford Health Care implemented its EHR system. In 2013, the health system received the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 award. Dr. Nath is also a clinical assistant professor of surgery in the department of emergency medicine. His past experience includes serving as CMIO of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. Dr. Nath earned his medical degree at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor and completed his residency at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York.
Michael Pfeffer, MD, CMIO of UCLA Health (Los Angeles). Dr. Pfeffer is CIO of UCLA Health and assistant clinical professor of medicine and associate program director of the internal medicine residency program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Prior to coming to UCLA, he was a hospitalist physician with The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu. Dr. Pfeffer earned his medical degree at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and completed his residency at the David Geffen School of Medicine.
Cedric Priebe III, MD, CIO of Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston). As CIO, Dr. Priebe oversees the development and use of information systems at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital and Brigham and Women's Physician Organization. He led the implementation of Epic systems across all of Brigham and Women's affiliated institutions. He also leads several application support teams within the information services department of Partners HealthCare, the health system that includes Brigham and Women's. Dr. Priebe has held several leadership positions in health IT at organizations like Allscripts, McKesson and IDX Systems. He most recently served as CMIO and CIO of Care New England Health System, based in Providence, R.I.
Shafiq Rab, MD, Vice President and CIO of Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center. Dr. Rab was named CIO of HackensackUMC in 2012. Previously, he was the CIO and vice president of Greater Hudson Valley Health System in Middletown, N.Y. During his time with Greater Hudson Valley Health, Dr. Rab oversaw the implementation of the Epic EHR. His past experience also includes serving as CIO of St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, N.J., and CIO of Carrier Clinic and East Mountain Hospital in Belle Mead, N.J.