Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center named Neal Patel, MD, its new HealthIT leader, effective Jan. 1, 2019.
Here are six notes:
1. Dr. Patel is a professor of clinical pediatrics, associate professor of biomedical informatics and VUMC's chief health information officer.
2. He has worked at VUMC since 1997, serving in several leadership roles since then, including as chief medical informatics officer.
3. In his new role as leader of HealthIT, Dr. Patel will oversee the team responsible for the IT and informatics needs in both the clinical and research arenas at VUMC.
4. He succeeds Kevin Johnson, MD, who is also the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor and chair of the department of biomedical informatics.
5. During Dr. Johnson's tenure as HealthIT leader, the medical center recruited new IT executive directors as well as implemented an Epic-based clinical platform.
6. Dr. Johnson will continue to serve as department of biomedical informatics chair.