Ed Kopetsky, CIO of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children's Health, was named CIO of the Year by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Each year, CHIME and HIMSS join together to honor a healthcare CIO as the John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year for their "significant leadership and commitment to the healthcare industry."
Here are four things to know about Mr. Kopetsky:
1. Mr. Kopetsky has served as CIO of three prominent healthcare systems: Stanford Children's, Centura Health in Centennial, Colo., and Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, Calif.
2. Mr. Kopetsky is one of the founding members of CHIME, and has been active with HIMSS since 1987.
3. Under his leadership, Stanford Children's achieved the HIMSS Stage 7 Acute Care and Ambulatory Awards, Most Wired recognition since 2015 and the international HIMSS Davies Award in 2017 for improving patient outcomes and care processes with health IT.
4. In 2018, he helped launch the CHIME Opioid Task Force after his son died of an accidental opioid overdose.
"Ed is one of the most courageous people I know," said Russell Branzell, president and CEO of CHIME. "Ed has turned a personal tragedy into a mission for CHIME and our members that already is saving lives. He has a vision of what can be achieved when healthcare IT leaders work together, and with his leadership we are making inroads against this devastating opioid epidemic."