Ananth Annapragada, PhD, Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B. Tech, A.C. College of Technology, 1985; Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1989.
Ananth Annapragada is Associate Professor in the School of Health Information Sciences at UTHSC-H. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan (1984-89) in the Gulari group, did post-doctoral work first at the University of Minnesota and then at MIT from 1989- 1991, in the laboratory of Klavs Jensen. He then joined Abbott Laboratories as a Research Scientist and worked in 3 different divisions of the company (Bulk Drugs, Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics). In 1996, he left Abbott to work at SEQUUS, (Menlo Park CA) where the Stealth liposome was invented, and remained there as a Product Development Manager through their acquisition by ALZA and the subsequent acquisition of ALZA by J&J. In 2000 he moved to Cleveland OH as Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and was named Director of the Applied Biomedical Engineering program shortly afterwards. In 2003, he moved to UTHSC-H, to his current position. He also holds positions in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Keck Institute for Computational and Structural Biology, and at the University of Houston Department of Chemical Engineering.
Professionally, he continues to bridge the worlds of Mathematics, Engineering, and Biology, His group, the Laboratory for Computational Biology and Delivery Systems is accessible on the web.
For the last 3 years, he has been an active member of the MABS (Mathematical Analysis of Biological Systems) study section at NIH. Recent honors he has received include the Chandran Lectureship in Neuro Oncology at Duke University, and an invitation to the National Academy of Sciences/Keck Futures Initiative conference on Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine. He is also a co-founder of Marval Therapeutics Inc., a company that seeks to commercialize some of the technologies developed in his laboratory.
For more information, contact Dr. Annapragada at:
Email: Ananth.Annapragada@uth.tmc.edu
Noriaki Aoki, MD, PhD, MS; MBA Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UT-Houston. Adjunct Assistant Professor, Division of International Health, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Japan, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Showa University School of Medicine, Japan, President, Center for Health Outcomes Research and Development, Japan. M.D., Sapporo Medical University, 1991; Ph.D., Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine, 2002; M.S., The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2001, MBA, University of Massachusetts, 2007.
Dr. Aoki is a board certified physician in Internal Medicine and Emergency and Critical Care Medicine in Japan, and a fellow member of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. He has a PhD in clinical epidemiology and decision science from the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine and Master of Science in Health Informatics from the School of Health Information Science, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He also completed his post-doctoral research in decision science and medical informatics at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Dr. Aoki has conducted wide-ranging collaborative researches locally, nationally and internationally.
Dr. Aoki has major interests in clinical data analysis to improve process and outcomes of clinical care, which includes data mining, text mining, decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, geographic information systems, and various simulations. He has also done extensive research in decision-making /decision support system, especially in extreme environment, such as disasters, trauma care and space medicine. He has also started projects related to knowledge management & edutainment system development utilizing small handheld devices.
For more information, contact Dr. Aoki at:
Email: Noriaki.Aoki@uth.tmc.edu
Jonas Almeida, PhD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Professor, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, UT MD Anderson, B.S., University of Lisbon, Portugal, 1989; Ph.D., University Nova of Lisbon, Portugal.
Dr. Almeida is a professor of Bioinformatics and Computations Biology at UT MD Anderson, and he completed his postdoctoral training in microbial ecology at the University of Tennessee. His research encompasses cardiovascular proteomics, and various other areas of bioinformatics. He has numerous publications and was awarded a science award of the Gulbenkian Institute for science in Lisbon, Portugal.
For more information, contact Dr. Almeida at:
Email: jalmeida@mdanderson.org
Philip R. Baldwin, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences and Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical School, UTHSC-H. A.B., Princeton University, 1982; Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1987.
Dr. Baldwin is a Physicist at the Medical School. He did postdoctoral training at Baylor College of Medicine, AT&T Bell Labs and at the University of Houston. His research is in alignment errors in images. He has over 20 publications and articles.
For more information, contact Dr. Baldwin at:
Email: Philip.Baldwin@uth.tmc.edu
J. Robert Beck, MD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, and Fox Chase Cancer Center. UTHSC-H. B.A., Dartmouth College, 1974; M.D., John Hopkins University, 1978; Clinical Fellow in Medicine, New England Medical Center, 1982.
Dr. Beck is an internationally recognized expert in medical decision-making and is editor of the premier journal in that area. Dr. Beck is a founding member of the Fellows of the American College of Medical Informatics.
For more information, contact Dr. Beck at:
Email: JR_Beck@fccc.edu
Elmer V. Bernstam, MD, MSE, MS; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, Clinical Instructor, Internal Medicine, UTHSC-H, and Attending Physician, Internal Medicine, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. B.S. and B.S.E., M.D., M.S.E., University of Michigan, 1992, 1995, 1999; M.S., Stanford University, 2001.
Dr. Bernstam is a board-certified in internal medicine and continues to practice. He completed a National Library of Medicine fellowship at Stanford Medical Informatics. His research focuses on clinical informatics; specifically on information retrieval, clinical practice guidelines and consumer informatics.
For more information, contact Dr. Bernstam at: Email: Elmer.V.Bernstam@uth.tmc.edu
Stefan Birmanns, PhD; M.S. Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, M.S., Ph.D., University of Aachen, 1999, 2003. Post Doctoral studies, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, 2006.
Dr. Birmanns is an Assistant Professor at the School of Health Information Sciences. His research areas include biocomputing, molecular modeling, virtual reality, haptic rendering, visualization, macromolecular machines, and image processing. He uses haptic rendering for interactive multiresolution fitting of biophysical data sets.
For more information, contact Dr. Birmanns at:
Email: Stefan.Birmanns@uth.tmc.edu
Eric Boerwinkle, PhD; Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, and Professor, Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, UTHSC-H. B.S., University of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1980; M.A., M.S., Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1984, 1985.
Dr. Boerwinkle is a nationally and internationally recognized scientist in human genetic and cardiovascular research. His research encompasses the genetic analysis of common chronic diseases in humans. Diseases currently being analyzed are coronary heart disease, hypertension, and noninsulin dependent (type II) diabetes. This work includes localizing genes that contribute to disease risk, identification of potentially functional mutations within these genes, testing these candidate functional mutations in experimental systems, defining the impact of gene variation on the epidemiology of disease, and determining the extent to which these genes interact with environmental factors to contribute to disease. Research and training opportunities include genetic analysis methods and applications and genome database integration. He has numerous publications, book chapters and funded research and he has received multiple honors and awards. Dr. Boerwinkle serves on the editorial board of Genetic Epidemiology and Circulation. He teaches medical and graduate students at the Health Science Center.
For more information, contact Dr. Boerwinkle at:
Email: eric.boerwinkle@uth.tmc.edu
Michael E. Brandt, PhD; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, and Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, UTHSC-H, Adjunct Faculty Member, GSBS, UTHSC-H, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston and The Keck Center/Gulf Coast Consortium. B.S., Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1977; M.S., Ph.D., University of Houston 1983, 1989.
Dr. Brandt has a bachelor’s degree in physics with a master’s and doctoral degree in biomedical engineering. He has completed postdoctoral training in cognitive neuroscience and biomedical signal processing. He was a faculty member of the UTHSC-H Medical School from 1990 – 2000 (Dept. of Psychiatry). He serves on various departmental committees and is the director of the Neurosignal Analysis Laboratory.
sahs.uth.tmc.edu/NAL/.
He is a member of the Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Society for Psycho physiological Research. Dr. Brandt has extensive research in computational methodologies for measuring both normal and anomalous pediatric brain development from magnetic resonance scans. His lab has NIH funded research studies of normal brain development in children and various brain disorders including traumatic brain injury, hydrocephalus, autism and spinal bifida. Dr. Brandt is also involved in biosignal/image analysis and computational modeling/simulation of biomedical processes such as brain electrical activity, viral dynamics in the body, and development of the T-cells.
For more information, contact Dr. Brandt at:
Email: Michael.E.Brandt@uth.tmc.edu
Juliana Brixey, Ph.D., RN, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., A.D., Missouri Southern State College, 1974, 1978; B.S.N., M.S.N., University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 1995, 2000; Ph.D., School of Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, 2006. Dr. Brixey is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. She has numerous publications and her research includes interruptions to healthcare providers in clinical workspaces. Her dissertation was Understanding Interruptions in Healthcare: Developing a Model.
For more information, contact Dr. Brixey at:
Email: jbrixey@kumc.edu
Wah Chiu, Ph.D.; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UT-Houston and Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. B.A., Ph.D., University of California, Berkley, 1969, 1975.
Dr. Chiu’s research is in the field of electron cryomicroscopy and bioinformatics using computer enhancement and molecular 3-dimensional modeling of bacteria and viruses. He has numerous publications and teaches graduate courses.
For more information, contact Dr. Chiu at:
Email: Wah@bcm.tmc.edu Home page: scbmb.bcm.tmc.edu/people/gcc_faculty_77
Claudio Cavasotto, PhD; Assistant Professor, Health Information Science, UTHSC-H, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Sciences, UTHSC-H, Adjoint Professor, Biomedical Engineering, UT- Austin; B.S., Ph.D., University of Buenos Aires, 1988, 1999, Post Doctoral Studies, The Scripps Research Institute, 2002.
Dr. Cavasotto is an Assistant Professor at the School of Health Information Sciences. His research interests include the development, validation, and application of relevant biomedical theoretical problems and in silico methods for high-resolution protein modeling, ligand-based and structure based drug discovery, and study of protein interaction and function. Computational methods include docking, virtual screening 2D- an 3D-QSAR, pharmacophore modeling, molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry approaches. His support tasks also include simulation theory, force-field development and cheminformatics.
For more information, contact Dr. Cavasotto at:
Email: Claudio.N.Cavasotto@uth.tmc.edu
Victorio Cristini, PhD; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Associate Professor, Systems Biology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Adjoint Professor, Biomedical Engineering, UT- Austin. Laurea, University of Rome, 1994, Ph.D., Yale University, 2000, Post Doctoral Studies, University of Minnesota, 2001, 2002.
Dr. Cristini is an expert in the fields of complex fluids, microfluidics, complex (bio) materials, mathematical/computational modeling of cancer and nanomathematics, where he has organized numerous domestic and international conferences and has published book chapters and numerous articles in journals. Dr. Cristini is also an editor for journals in the fields of bioengineering and nanotechnology. Dr. Cristini received the prestigious “Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics.” Dr. Cristini’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, the State of California, the State of Texas, Orqis Medical, Dekk-Tec, and Merck.
For more information, contact Dr. Cristini at:
Email: Vittorio.Cristini@uth.tmc.edu
Kim Dunn, MD, PhD; Assistant Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, and President and CEO, Telecare International. B.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 1983; M.D., The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1990; Ph.D., The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1990.
Dr. Dunn is a practicing general internist who serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School of Health Information Sciences and leads the Laboratory for Telehealth and Distributed Computing at the School of Health Information Sciences. She has extensive experience in starting new companies and advising people in issues related to start-up technology companies in the healthcare space. She serves as Chairperson of the Your Doctor Program (a practice model to integrate finance, delivery, cost-effective technology, and accountability for healthcare) and Vice-President of the Schull Institute, a non-profit organization to foster international development. Prior to joining the faculty, she was Vice Chair of Internal Medicine at UTMB and played a leading role in developing the telemedicine program and outcomes management program for the Texas Prison System. At SHIS, she teaches Telemedicine, Consultation in Health Informatics, Project Management, and Advanced Informatics. She assists in developing the strategic directions for the SHIS.
For more information, contact Dr. Dunn at:
Email: Kim.Dunn@uth.tmc.edu
Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
Elizabeth King Eaton, PhD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, and Executive Director, Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center. B.A., Hood College, 1965; M.L.S., The University of California, 1972; and Ph.D., The University of Texas Medical Branch, 1986. Dr. Eaton is the Executive Director of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center, a major academic health science library serving a multi-institutional center. Dr. Eaton became a National Library of Medicine Medical Informatics Fellow in October 1999. She serves on many national library and curriculum committees. She has published numerous articles. She is a member of the American Medical Informatics Association and other professional societies. For more information, contact Dr. Eaton at: Email: eeaton@library.tmc.edu Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools.shis
Oliver Esch, MD, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Genefobank Technologies International. B.S. Technical University of Aachen, 1973; M.D., Aachen Medical School, 1983.
Dr. Oliver Esch is an academic physician and scientist who has most recently served as Section Head/ Director of PACS, Computer Operations, and Director of the General Clinical Research Center Whole Body Counter and Body Composition Laboratory, at The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. His responsibilities included the assessment, planning and implementation of one of the largest continuous speech recognition systems for medical reporting in the US. Other professional responsibilities have included: Planning and implementation of a departmental Local Area Network and Wide Area Network access, an Image Research Laboratory (Sun and SGI), a DICOM server, Web based imaging applications, upgrade and integration of applications into Radiology and Hospital IS; planning and implementation of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), Computed and Digital Radiography, as well as comprehensive systems planning.
On an institutional level he has served as faculty liaison for all imaging related aspects of Telemedicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch. The UTMB Telemedicine program is one of the most comprehensive in the US.
He has published, lectured, and taught extensively in Academic Surgery, Gastroenterology, and Radiology, and on Medical Information Technology, Digital Imaging, Telemedicine, DICOM and related Standards, and Speech Recognition. He serves on the editorial and review board of several academic publications, and has published both in the peer reviewed as well as popular-scientific literature. He is involved in numerous related professional organization and committees, and has provided consulting services to the health care industry since 1993. These included assignments by Texas Instruments, companies in the US and European markets, and non-for-profit organizations.
Dr. Esch now serves on the Board of a Houston based Biotechnology company, and as Principal Scientist of several interdisciplinary expert teams working on health information technology and environmental health projects of national and long-range importance. One focus of this work is the application of healthcare related information technology to environmental health and health risk assessment problems, and resulting community health improvement for minority, underserved, and remote communities, among them Native American groups.
His current academic affiliation includes appointments in Health Informatics at the U T-Houston, in Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, and in Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Toronto, Ontario.
For more information, contact Dr. Esch at:
Email: oesch@radcom.org
Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
Richard E. Ewing, PhD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, and Vice President for Research, Professor, Mathematics and Engineering, Director, Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies, Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technologies, Institute for Scientific Computation and Science and Technology Division, Texas Engineering Experiment Station Distinguished Research Chair, Texas A & M University. B.A., M.A., Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin, 1969, 1972, 1974.
Dr. Ewing is Vice President for Research and Director for the Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies at Texas A&M University. He holds the Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics chair and the Mobil Technology Chair in Computational Science. He has an extensive research background in mathematical modeling and ground water simulation. Dr. Ewing has received over 90 grants and contracts in the area of mathematical modeling and has published over 250 publications. His research has investigated several areas of human performance that could be modeled. While his work has not focused on health, many of the insights from his research will have direct applications in the areas being investigated by Health Informatics.
For more information, contact Dr. Ewing at:
Email: richard-ewing@tamu.edu
Home page: isc.tamu.edu/~ewing
Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D.; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Professor, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, UTHSC-H; Professor, Univ. of TX, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Rice University, Univ. of TX Medical Branch at Galveston. Ph.D., Universita’ di Padova, 1985; M.S., Ph.D., Univ. of California, Berkley, 1987, 1989.
Research Interests: Biomedical nanotechnology; translational science; medical therapeutics in drug delivery application in oncology, cardiovascular disease and diabetes; biosensors and bioseparation technology; multiscale discrete/continuum mechanics and biomechanics.
Research in my laboratory is directed at the early detection of disease from biological fluids, the autonomous (time-controlled and spatially directed) delivery of therapeutics agents, the continuous monitoring of disease progression, and the real-time evaluation of the efficacy of therapeutic intervention. We have completed work that demonstrates how silicon-based implants can be engineered to provide long-term therapeutic delivery for treatment of chronic and acute conditions. Our laboratory has pioneered the development of proteomic nanodevices for analysis of low-concentration biomarkers in biological fluids.
Depending on the student’s interests, a tutorial in my laboratory would provide experience in working with silicon-based nanotechnologies for drug delivery, proteomics, or cell transplantation. The laboratory will also provide training opportunities in the multiscale mathematical modeling of biological phenomena in health and disease.
For more information, contact Dr. Ferrari at:
Email: Mauro.Ferrari@uth.tmc.edu
Homepage: gsbs.uth.tmc.edu/tutorial/ferrari.html
Yuriy Fofanov, Ph.D; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of Houston. M.S., Ph.D.; Kuibyshev (Samara) State University, 1977, 1988.
Dr. Fofanov’s research areas are bioinformatics, applied statistics, mathematical modeling, information theory, causality in genetic networks, microarray technology, gene/protein expression and DNA sequence analysis, Structural identification of non-linear dependencies, mathematical methods of discovering non-linear conformities in experimental data, and planning of experiments on discovering nonlinear regularity. He has written several book chapters and journal articles. He holds a patent for method of invariants and apparatus for modeling causal relationships between genes.
For more information, contact Dr. Fofanov at:
Email: yfofanov@uh.edu
Amy Franklin, PhD; Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S. University of Houston, 1999; M.S., Ph.D.,University of Chicago, 2007.
Dr. Franklin is a cognitive scientist with interdisciplinary training in cognitive Psychology and Linguistics. She has done research in psycholinguistics including studies of language and gesture, conversational negotiation, deception, and language acquisition. As part of the Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making, her research focus is on reducing medical errors and improving care through a better understanding of human thought processes including decision-making and the dynamics of group and human-computer interactions. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers and has been invited to present her work at conferences worldwide. Dr. Franklin has received research support from the Keck Foundation, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and the National Institute of Health.
John C. Frenzel, MD, MS; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Associate Professor, Dept. of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. B.S., B.A., Emory University, 1984; M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1989; M.S., UTHSC-H, 2002. Dr.
Frenzel focuses his research on the use of Electronic Medical Records and their impact on the economics and quality of healthcare delivery. He is the Medical Director of the Ambulatory Surgery Center and Preoperative Consultation Center at M.D. Anderson where these technologies are being used to transform care for patients and practitioners in the Perioperative environment. He has coauthored a book, written articles and lectured on the impact of these applications and healthcare.
For more information, contact Dr. Frenzel at:
Email: johnfrenzel@odxc.com
John C. Frenzel, MD, MS; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Associate Professor, Dept. of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. B.S., B.A., Emory University, 1984; M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1989; M.S., UTHSC-H, 2002. Dr. Frenzel focuses his research on the use of Electronic Medical Records and their impact on the economics and quality of healthcare delivery. He is the Medical Director of the Ambulatory Surgery Center and Preoperative Consultation Center at M.D. Anderson where these technologies are being used to transform care for patients and practitioners in the Perioperative environment. He has coauthored a book, written articles and lectured on the impact of these applications and healthcare. For more information, contact Dr. Frenzel at: Email: johnfrenzel@odxc.com Home page: shis.uth.tmc.eduLex Frieden, LL.D. (Hon.), MA; Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UTHSC-Hem. B.S., University of Tulsa, 1971, M.A., University of Houston, 1979, LL.D. (Hon.), University of Ireland, 2004.
Lex Frieden is professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is also senior vice president at Memorial Hermann TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) and director of the ILRU research, training and technical assistance program at TIRR. He has served as chairperson of the National Council on Disability, president of Rehabilitation International, and chairperson of the American Association of People with Disabilities. Frieden was instrumental in conceiving and drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
For more information, contact Professor Frieden at:
Email: Lex.Frieden@uth.tmc.edu
Tsuguya Fukui, MD, MPH, PhD: Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Vice President of St. Luke’s International Hospital and Professor Emeritus, University of Kyoto. MD, Kyoto University, 1976; MPH, Harvard University, 1984; PhD, Saga Medical School, 1990.
Dr. Fukui is a General Medicine physician. His research interests include objective evaluation of medical practices and technologies using clinical epidemiology and decision sciences to qualitative research in medical education and ethical issues. Among his accomplishments are initiatives in establishing the Department of General Medicine, the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and the first data management center at a national university in Japan. He helps young doctors to become clinical researchers. He introduced the concept of Evidence-based Medicine in the medical community and to the public in Japan.
He has written many articles and books in Japanese. He has also translated 22 books into Japanese. He is on the editorial board of the Japanese Journal of Public Health, Journal of Integrated Medicine, The Journal of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine, Journal of Epidemiology, General Medicine, and Journal of General Internal Medicine.
For more information, contact Dr. Fukui at:
Email: fkts@luke.or.jp
Chiehwen Ed Hsu, PhD; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, and School of Public Health, UTHSC-H,. B.S., Fujen Catholic University, 1994; M.P.H., M.S., Ph.D., University of Texas Houston, 1997, 2000, 2001. Dr. Hsu has served as a director of a masters of public health program and is a professor of public health informatics. His research encompasses emergency preparedness for bioterrorism situations and its delivery to emergency responders and health professionals. Dr. Hsu has numerous book chapters, articles published and is also a member of the American Public Health Association. His lab seeks to enhance the understanding of public health informatics in addressing current critical public health challenges, including disaster informatics, informatics in vulnerable populations in health and human services, emergency preparedness and response, and reduction of health disparities.
For more information, contact Dr. Hsu at:
Email: Chiehwen.E.Hsu@uth.tmc.edu
Jeffrey T. Huber, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Associate Professor, Houston Academy of Medicine Texas Medical Center Library. M.L.S., University of Kentucky, 1987; Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, 1991.
Dr. Huber is a professor in Library Science. His research areas include HIV/AIDS information and resources. He also concentrates on relationships between sociological aspects of disease and their respective vocabularies, information access for health care consumers and public health professionals. He is a Research Information Scientist for the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. He has many journal articles, book chapters and presentations.
For more information, contact Dr. Huber at:
Email: Jhuber@TWU.edu
Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
Robert L. Hunter, MD, PhD; Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, and Professor and Chair, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical School. B.S., Harvard University, 1961; M.S., M.D., Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1965, 1965, 1969.
Dr. Hunter is chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Medical School. Dr. Hunter has over 200 publications in his field of pathology. He has worked with information systems as a critical part of his professional activities for most of his career. The key focus of his work is developing improved means of facilitating professional work of pathologists. This includes development of information system resources to be used as aids to memory and time savers in diagnosing difficult cases across a spectrum of disease conditions. This includes wed based algorithms for efficient leading one to the correct diagnosis in a complex field. In addition, much work has been done on systems for facilitating communication among geographically dispersed pathologists. Telepathology systems that transmit live high quality images over the web are being used for conferences and for consultation among professionals. Current work focuses on pen based tablet computes that can be used during daily work to facilitate more efficient navigation of the increasingly complex diagnostic processes. Cooperative work on these issues will benefit both departments and the students in particular.
For more information, contact Dr. Hunter at:
Email: Robert.L.Hunter@uth.tmc.edu
M. Sriram Iyengar, PhD; Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B. Technology, The Indian Institute of Technology, 1974; M.S., The Indian Institute of Sciences, 1977; M.S., Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1980, 1995.
Dr. Iyengar has focused his research in bio-medical informatics Research & Development including mathematical/statistical modeling, algorithms, and software development across diverse areas such as biochemistry, immunohematology, endocrinology, oncology, orthopedics, neural imaging, and clinical trials. He has extensive software development experience, most recently with Palm OS and web technologies.
For more information, contact Dr. Iyengar at:
Email: msriram@bcm.tmc.edu
John C. Joe, M.D., M.P.H.; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-. M.D., Texas A&M University Health Science Center, 1988; and M.P.H.; University of TX School of Public Health at Houston, 1993.
Dr. Joe is the Informatics Specialist for Space Medicine and Health Care Systems at NASA. He is the Director of Medical Informatics, Baylor College of Medicine and Assistant Medical Director for Information Systems, Texas Children’s Hospital. He has developed software for the Baylor Family Practice Clinic. He is implementing an electronic medical record system in the Baylor Family Practice Clinic.
For more information, contact Dr. Joe at:
Email: jcjoe@bcm.edu
Constance M. Johnson, Ph.D., R.N.; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S.N., University of Connecticut, 1978; M.S., Ph.D., The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2001, 2003.
Dr. Johnson’s research interests focus on several areas of study: cancer prevention, information visualization, human-centered computing, and risk communication and representation. Dr. Johnson has over 20 years of experience in research and informatics in the area of health promotion and disease prevention. While at The University of Texas Health Science Center, Dr. Johnson studied under an F38-Applied Informatics Fellowship from the National Library of Medicine. She is currently working with a multidisciplinary team on the development of a cancer risk model and assessment tool based on published evidence of epidemiologic and clinical factors. In conjunction with this modeling work, she is working on a new approach to building web-based interfaces and on the development of an interactive website that hosts the model and considers risk representation to healthcare consumers.
For more information, contact Dr. Johnson at:
Email: constance.johnson@duke.edu
Craig W. Johnson, PhD; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.A., B.S., M.A., Ph.D., University of Nebraska, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1978.
Dr. Johnson has been at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston since 1983. Dr. Johnson’s Ph.D. is in educational psychology with specialization in research, statistics and human learning. Dr. Johnson has taught or advised hundreds of faculty and graduate students in design, development, implementation, analysis, interpretation and publication of education and health oriented research and evaluation studies. While at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Dr. Johnson has presented or published numerous scholarly papers concerning effective use of computers in education and research (e.g., “Hypertutor Therapy for Interactive Instruction”, “Microcomputer-administered Research: What it means for Educational Researchers”, “Microcomputer as Teacher/Researcher in a Nontraditional Setting”, “Randomized Comparisons Among Health Informatics Students Identify Hypertutorial Features as Improving Web-Based Instruction”). He authored the computer game BlockAIDS - The AIDS Education Game. More recently, Dr. Johnson has become a recognized expert in the area of Web-based courseware research and development. He has developed a theoretical framework for the design of Web-based instruction (WBI) called the HyperTutor Model. Dr Johnson’s chief research efforts have focused on the production and evaluation of superior Web-based interdisciplinary learning environments while implementing evidence-based teaching (EBT) randomized control methodologies to evaluate WBI effects in the field. This research not only “bridges the gap”, but integrates randomized teaching and learning research with teaching practice, maximizing internal and external validity, while providing a model for WBI research in diverse health, science, mathematics, engineering and technology learning environments. Dr. Johnson is a winner of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston/ School of Health Information Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award and of the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award.
For more information, contact Dr. Johnson at:
Email: Craig.W.Johnson@uth.tmc.edu
Kathy A. Johnson-Throop, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, and Lead for Medical Informatics, NASA, Johnson Space Center. B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Ohio State University, 1984, 1986, 1993.
Dr. Johnson-Throop’s doctorate is in Computer Science with studies in Artificial Intelligence. She teaches database design and knowledge modeling. Her specific interests are in the areas of decision support systems, data mining, and intelligent tutoring systems. One of her largest projects has been the design and building of a multimedia system for gait analysis including both tutoring functionality as well as providing support for writing intelligent reports.
For more information, contact Dr. Johnson-Throop at:
Email: Kathy.A.Johnson@uth.tmc.edu
Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
Todd R. Johnson, PhD; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Ohio State University, 1984, 1986, 1991. Dr. Johnson is an expert in cognitive science in healthcare, an area that improves healthcare and biomedical decision-making by designing processes, software, and devices that match the needs and cognitive capabilities of those who use them. His current work focuses on two areas: (1) improving patient safety by reducing medical errors caused by poor device and software interfaces, as well as errors that arise due to pressures placed on caregivers by the healthcare system in which they work; and (2) improving decision making and efficiency through user-centered software design and decision support systems.
For more information, contact Dr. Johnson at:
Email: Todd.R.Johnson@uth.tmc.edu
Shigekoto Kaihara, MD, PhD: Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-. M.D., Ph.D., University of Tokyo, 1961, 1965.
Dr. Kaihara has spent much of his time in the area of information processing and information system development. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in academic journals and numerous presentations and invited speeches at national and international conferences in the area of medical and health informatics.
For more information, contact Dr. Kaihara at:
Email: kaihara-tky@umin.ac.jp
Ioannis A. Kakadiaris, PhD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., University of Athens, 1989; M.S., Northeastern University, 1991; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1996.
Dr. Kakadiaris joined the University of Houston in August 1997 after completing a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Director of the Division of Bio-Imaging and Bio-Computation at the UH Institute for Digital Informatics and Analysis. Dr. Kakadiaris is also the founder and Co-Director of UH’s Visual Computing Laboratory, an affiliate of the Texas Learning and Computation Center (TLC2). His research interests include computer vision, biomedical image analysis, modeling and simulation, biocomputing, pattern recognition, and multimodal human-computer interaction. Dr. Kakadiaris is the recipient of the year 2000 NSF Early Career Development Award, UH Computer Science Research Excellence Award, UH Enron Teaching Excellence Award, James Muller VP Young Investigator Prize, and the Schlumberger Technical Foundation Award.
For more information, contact Dr. Kakadiaris at:
Email: ioannisk@uh.edu
Sadahiko Kano, PhD: Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. M.Sc., University of Tokyo, 1967, University of Essex, 1974; Ph.D., University of Tokyo, 1979.
Dr. Kano first majored in International Relations at the University of Tokyo, and then graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1967. He immediately joined NTT. He was engaged in a number of network related projects at its Laboratories and became Director, Network Technology Laboratories in 1987. After serving as Director, Network Strategic Planning at NTT headquarters and Deputy Managing Director of R&D, he left NTT in 1999 and became Visiting Professor, at the University of Edinburgh. Since 2001, he assumed the current position of Professor, Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies at Waseda University. He served as Chairman of a Study Group at International Telecommunication Union headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and also as President of Telecommunication Information Networking Architecture Consortium, composed of some 50 telecom and information companies of developed countries. He is now Deputy Director of the Wearable Information Networking Consortium and heading its Ubiquitous Health and Welfare Information System Group.
For more information, contact Dr. Kano at:
Nobutaka Kikuchi, MD, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. M.D., Yamagata University, 2000, Ph.D., Tohuko University, 2007, M.S., School of Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, 2007.
Dr. Kikuchi is a board certified anesthesiologist and a fellow of the palliative care service. She was a director of research and development and chief medical information officer at the regional palliative care service in Natori, Japan.
For more information, contact Dr. Kikuchi at:
Email: Nobutaka.Kikuchi@uth.tmc.edu
Terri M. King, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, and Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine, Medical School; Associate Member, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UTHSC-H and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. B.S., The University of Texas at Austin, 1988; M.S., Georgetown University, 1989; and Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, 1993.
Dr. King’s dissertation focused on identifying the statistical properties of applying frailty survival models to the investigation of length of life in the Old Order Amish. Dr. King continued her professional training with a post-doctoral fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Chris Amos at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. During her post-doctoral fellowship she continued research on the statistical properties of model for the analysis of clustered survival data as well as conducting research on the use of phenotypes derived by principal components models in linkage analysis. She initiated a family study examining the genetics of a cellular biomarker, for which she received funding under the R-03 program. She continued at UTMDACC as an Assistant Professor and in 1997, she was awarded a K-07 award from the National Cancer Institute. As part of that award, she completed coursework in theoretical statistics at Rice University. In the final two years of her K-07, she held a joint appointment between UTMDACC and Genometrix, Inc. located in The Woodlands, TX. During this appointment, she was responsible for the development of statistical protocols for the analysis of microarray data as well as manufacturing quality control metrics. In addition, she developed clinical research databases, which were fully integrated with genetic and genomics data generated by microarrays. The position at Genometrix, Inc was not an academic position and this is reflected in her publication and grant record. In 2001, she chose to re-enter the academic field and joined the faculty of The University of Texas Houston Medical School as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics. This appointment has permitted her to transition her career focus from genetic epidemiology to statistical genetics. Her research interests are in the development of multivariate analytic techniques integrating phenotypic, genetic and genomic information. Since re-entering academia, Dr. King has established strong collaborations through the University and this is reflected in her publication and grant submission record over the last 18 months.
For more information, contact Dr. King at:
Email: Terri.M.King@uth.tmc.edu
Helen Li, MD; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Associate Professor, Dept. of Ophthalmology, Director, Vitreoretinal Diseases and Surgery, Dept. of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. B.S., University of Pittsburgh, 1977; M.D., UTHSC-H, 1986. Dr. Li’s research interests include information technology for delivering eye care. She has published on digital imagery standards for clinical research and telemedicine and co-edited “Telehealth Practice Recommendations for Diabetic Retinopathy,” published by the American Telemedicine Association’s Telemedicine and eHealth journal. Dr Li was past chair of the American Telemedicine Association’s Ocular Telehealth Special Interest Group. Her research support included grants from National Institutes of Health, foundation and industries. Dr. Li is a four-time recipient of Faculty of the Year Awards from the UTMB ophthalmology department. She teaches medical students, graduate students and supervises practicums and theses for UTHSC-H Health Information Sciences master and doctoral students.
For more information, contact Dr. Li at:
Email: hli@utmb.edu or hlimed@mac.com
Hualou Liang, Ph.D.; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., M.S., Dalian University of Technology, Ph.D., Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1966.
Dr. Liang’s graduate training is in signal processing, and his PhD is on neural networks in physics. After completing his PhD, he performed three postdoctoral research periods in Tel-Aviv University, Israel, Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany, and the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, USA in order to gain expertise in neural modeling and neurobiology. His research experience throughout the years ranges from areas in biomedical signal processing to cognitive and computational neuroscience. Dr. Liang’s major current interest is development and application of advanced signal processing techniques to biological systems. In collaboration with other scientists, Dr. Liang has been engaged in two related research areas: computational
Neuroscience and biomedical signal processing. Much of his work focuses on the analysis and modeling of electrophysiological data on which mathematical, statistical and computational techniques are applied. The long-term research objective in his lab is to understand computation in biological systems.
For more information, contact Dr. Liang at:
Email: Hualou.Liang@uth.tmc.edu
Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
Jianpeng Ma, Ph.D.; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-. B.S., Fudan University, 1985; Ph.D., Boston University, 1996.
Dr. Ma’s main research focus is on computational study of the energetics and dynamics of protein structures, particularly on the role of functionally important large conformational changes, such as those involved in signal transduction, enzyme catalysis and protein folding in vivo.
For more information, contact Dr. Ma at:
Email: jpma@bcm.tmc.edu
Home page: http:// www.bioch.bcm.tmc.edu/MaLab
Paul Macklin, PhD; Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.A., University of Nebraska, 1999, M.S., University of Minnesota, 2003, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 2007, Post Doctoral Studies, University of California, Irvine, 2007.
Dr. Macklin’s research interests include computations modeling of tumor growth. Dr. Macklin is currently collaborating with Dr. Cristini on a new generation of tumor growth and angiogenesis models.
For more information, contact Dr. Macklin at:
Email: Paul.T.Macklin@uth.tmc.edu
Roger Marion, PhD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, and Professor and Assistant Dean for Research and Educational Technology, UTMB. B.A, M.S., California State University, 1966, 1968 and Ph.D., University of Kentucky, 1978.
Rodger Marion was a California filmmaker who won a CINE Golden Eagle. In graduate school, he learned to program a computer, and trained as a school psychologist, but ended up in the US Air Force, in Texas, teaching reading to basic trainees. Later he got a Ph.D. in psychology and communications, did a lot of computer programming, and wanted to go into educational television. Again he ended up somewhere else. This time he trained interdisciplinary health care teams in rural Kentucky. He came to the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1981. Currently, he is professor of Humanities and Basic Sciences, and assistant dean for research and educational technology in the School of Allied Health Sciences. Rodger, and his colleagues, have developed multimedia, instructional software that is licensed at over 60 colleges and universities. They have received many grants to support their research in using computers in education and developing software. Their current work focuses on developing simulations of international, telemedicine clinical encounters. And finally, thanks to the wonders of technology that have linked computers and television, he gets to paint again with light and shadow through a camera’s lens.
For more information, contact Dr. Marion at:
Email: rmarion@utmb.edu
Home page: http://www.sahs.utmb.edu/vision/Bios/rodger_marion_ph.htm
Susan McBride, RN, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Vice President of the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council. B.S., University of Texas at Arlington, 1982; M.S., Ph.D., Texas Women’s University, 1995, 2005.
As a Clinician with over 20 years of experience in clinical, management, healthcare informatics and outcomes management capacities, Dr. McBride contributes to education, research and development of measuring cost and quality of healthcare services with a focus on healthcare informatics and improving health and clinical outcomes of populations. She has many publications and presentations.
For more information, contact Dr. McBride at:
Email: smcbride@dfwhc.org
Patrick J. McGinnis, MD, MS; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., Xavier University; M.D., University of Kentucky, 1988; M.S., Wright State University, 1992; M.S., University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2001. Patrick J. McGinnis, MD is a Physician Executive with Cerner Corporation -- the leading firm in the healthcare information technology industry. Cerner Physician Executives bring expertise to the challenging intersection of clinical, technical, and managerial domains of modern healthcare organizations. Prior to joining Cerner, Dr. McGinnis was a NASA Flight Surgeon at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. There, he provided primary care to NASA astronauts, their families, and medical support for several space missions. He has served as a Flight Surgeon with the Air National Guard and the USAF Reserve; he has completed the USAF Air War College, and currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the USAF Reserve. Dr. McGinnis is a graduate of Xavier University and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch and in Aerospace Medicine at Wright State University. His academic credentials also include an MS in Health Informatics from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and an MBA from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. In addition to academic, public sector, and corporate experience, Dr. McGinnis served as a Congressional Fellow to Montana Senator Conrad Burns in 2002. He conducted legislative research and assisted with policy formulation, thereby gaining valuable insights to the political process and leadership in the Federal Government.
For more information, contact Dr. McGinnis at:
Email: pat.mcginnis@cerner.com
Yanko F. Michea, MD, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, UTHSC-H, and Director of Faculty Instructional Technology Services, University of Connecticut Health Science Center. M.D., Pontifical Catholic University, M.S., Ph.D., University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2004.
Dr. Michea is the appointed Director of the Faculty Instructional Technology Services unit at the University of Connecticut Health Center. During his career has gathered a broad range of technological, educational and research expertise: Ten years of research, design and development experience evaluating e-learning, learning management systems, and cognitive issues of multimedia in education. Dr. Michea has ten years of clinical experience on Family Practice and Mental Health. He is currently applying his expertise in the development of a technological platform for shareable virtual patients and simulations, and also participating of diverse working groups to develop the standards to exchange contents on these domains.
For more information, contact Dr. Michea at:
Email: ymichea@uchc.edu
Dianna M. Milewicz, M.D., Ph.D.; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Professor and Vice Chair, Internal Medicine, Medical School, UTHSC-H. B.A., Rice University, 1978; M.D., Ph.D., U.T. Southwestern Medical School, 1984.
For more information, contact Dr. Milewicz at:
Email: Dianna.M.Milewicz@uth.tmc.edu
Home page: http://www.uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
Kevin Montgomery, PhD; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., University of Delaware, 1988, M.S., Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, 1994, 1996.
Dr. Montgomery’s research areas include advanced visualization, telemedicine, and simulation to directly impact medical care as well as wireless and advanced visualization technologies for public health, telemedicine, and disaster management.
Email: Kevin.Montgomery@uth.tmc.edu
Mitchell Morris, M.D.; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., University of Michigan, 1977; M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1981.
Dr. Morris is executive vice president at First Consulting Group where he leads the Health Delivery Services Group, which focuses on outsourcing, consulting, business and clinical transformation, and implementation services. This group supports systematic, comprehensive initiatives for hospitals and other healthcare organizations that wish to improve the quality and efficiency of their services, and satisfy critical regulatory and patient safety imperatives. Dr. Morris was previously senior vice president and chief information officer at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston where he led the development of their information systems and innovative care management program. Dr. Morris is a surgeon, clinician and adjunct professor at M.D. Anderson and has authored more than 100 peer review publications. He is a frequent speaker on healthcare IT, outcomes, and quality issues.
For more information, contact Dr. Morris at:
Email: mmorris@fcg.com
Robert E. Murphy, MD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences. Dr. Murphy is developing enterprise-wide strategies for adoption of electronic medical records and clinical information technologies. He leads specific efforts on computerized physician order entry, online physician documentation, and use of mobile devices.
For more information, contact Dr. Murphy at:
Email: Robert_murphy@mhhs.org
Koichi Nobutomo, MD, PhD: Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, and Professor, Kyushu University Graduate School Division of Medical Sciences Management and Policy, M.D., Ph.D., Kyushu University, 1971, 1978. M.S. Harvard University, 1980. For more information, contact Dr. Nobutomo at: Email: nobutomo@hsmp.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp Sachiko Ohta, MD, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H; M.D., Sapporo Medical University, 1990, Ph.D., Okayama University Medical School, 1997, M.S. University of Texas Houston, 2007.
For more information, contact Dr. Ohta at:
Email: o-chiko@mub.biglobe.ne.jp
Sachiko Ohta, MD, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Chief Training Officer for Residency, Okayama Central Hospital; M.D., Sapporo Medical University, 1990, Ph.D., Okayama University Medical School, 1997, M.S. University of Texas Houston, 2007.
For more information, contact Dr. Ohta at:
Email: o-chiko@mub.biglobe.ne.jp
Paula O’Neill, Ed.D.; Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Associate Dean, for Educational Research and Professional Development, Professor Dental Public Health & Dental Hygiene, The University of Texas, Dental Branch of Houston; B.A., University of Sioux Falls, M.Ed., Ed.D., University of Texas, 1985, 1989. Dr O’Neill is an Associate Dean for Educational Research and Professional Development at the University of Texas Dental Branch and is also a professor of Dental Public Health and dental Hygiene. Dr. O’Neill received a certificate in Biomedical Communication/Instructional Design from the School of Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H.
For more information, contact Dr. O’Neill at:
Email: Paula.N.Oneill@uth.tmc.edu
Cynthia L. Phelps, PhD, Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., Hope College, 1991; Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1996.
Dr. Phelps’ research focuses on the use of technology in teaching and learning. She combines her background in learning and memory with cognitive science, neuroscience, and education, to create various technology-based learning environments, including web games to teach kids about drugs, virtual patient software to train health professionals, and collaborative learning environments to encourage students to pursue careers in scientific research.
For more information, contact Dr. Phelps at:
Email: Cynthia.L.Phelps@uth.tmc.edu
Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
John Riggs, MD, MS; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Medical School, UTHSC-H. B.A. Trinity University, 1982, M.D., M.S., UTHSC-H, 1986, 2001.
For more information, contact Dr. Riggs at:
Email: John.W.Riggs@uth.tmc.edu
Doris L. Ross, Ph.D., Dean Emeritus, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, B.S., Texas Woman’s University, 1947; MT (ASCP), Hermann Hospital, 1948; M.S., Baylor College of Medicine, 1958; Ph.D., The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1967.
Dr. Ross is a Biochemist. She is one the first graduates of the UTHSC-H Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. She worked at Hermann Hospital managing the laboratories. In 1973, she came to the School of Allied Health Sciences as a faculty member in the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences.
She became Dean Pro Tem in September 1992 as the School was redefining itself. She has been instrumental in the development of the new School of Health Information Sciences. The School received approval to offer a masters degree in Health Informatics in July of 1999. In October of 2000, the School under her leadership received approval to offer a doctoral degree in Health Informatics. In March 2001, the official name of the school was changed to the School of Health Information Sciences and she was officially named Dean.
For more information, contact Dr. Ross at:
Email: Doris.L.Ross@uth.tmc.edu
Richard M. Sailors, Ph.D.; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UT-Houston, and Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Medical School, UT-Houston. B.E., Vanderbilt University, 1991; M.E., Ph.D., University of Utah, 1996, 2000.
Dr. Sailors is a medical informaticist in the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for the Department of Surgery. His areas of expertise include clinical informatics, clinical decision support tools, and health care informatics standards. Dr. Sailors co-chairs the Clinical Decision Support Technical Committee and the Arden Syntax Special Interest Group within the Health Level Seven, Inc. (HL7) standards development organization.
For more information, contact Dr. Sailors at:
Email: Matthew.Sailors@tmhs.org
Home page: uth.tmc.edu/schools/shis
Pamela D. Salyer, Ph.D., R.N.; BC Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Texas Women’s University. 1976, 1982, 1994.
Pamela Salyer, PhD, RN, is responsible for assuring that I.T. conforms to all relevant legal and regulatory requirements, and monitoring the activities of federal, state, regulatory, standards, and market activities to anticipate changes that might impact strategic plans for I.T. Prior to this role, she served as the Clinical Systems Consultant in I.T. from 1989 to 2003, where she represented clinical interests in the selection, development, and implementation of a wide variety of computer applications that impact clinicians at The Methodist Hospital System. She has published numerous articles and made extensive presentations locally and nationally on nursing informatics and clinical information systems. She has been recognized in Who’s Who in American Nursing among some of her honors. In addition, she was one of the first 100 nurses to become board certified in Nursing Informatics by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
For more information, contact Dr. Salyer at:
Email: psalyer@tmhs.org or Pamela.D.Salyer@uth.tmc.edu
Home page: www.uth.tmc.edu/schools/ shis
Michael Shabot, MD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., University of Texas, 1966, M.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, 1970. M. Michael Shabot, M.D. is System Chief Medical Officer for the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System of Houston, Texas.. He has served as Memorial Hermann’s Chief Quality Officer. Prior to joining Memorial Hermann, he served as Medical Director of Enterprise Information Services, Director of Surgical Intensive Care and Associate Director of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is a recent past Chief of Staff at Cedars-Sinai. He is Board certified in General Surgery and Surgery Critical Care and specializes in general surgery, trauma surgery and critical care. Dr. Shabot is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Critical Care Medicine and the American College of Medical Informatics. During his surgical residency, Dr. Shabot implemented a first generation clinical information system for the real time management of critically ill patients. Since then he has overseen the development of numerous innovations in patient care including ambulatory systems. He has published over 325 papers, chapters, books and abstracts on critical care, trauma, physiologic monitoring and the use of computerized information systems for decision support, quality management and clinical research. A specialist in medical computer technology, Dr. Shabot conducts research on how systems can improve patient care, quality and safety. With Cedars-Sinai Medical Center he obtained a patent on a wireless clinical alerting system in 1999.
For more information, Contact Dr. Shabot at:
Email: Michael.Shabot@memorialhermann.org
Ross Shegog, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, UTHSC-H; B.Sc., University of Sidney, 1983, M.P.H., Ph.D., University of Texas, 1992, 1997. Dr. Shegog is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion, at the School of Public Health UTHSC-H, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research. His current research interests include application of instructional technology in health promotion and disease prevention. His recent projects have focused on using computer based education and decision-support programs to enhance the management of pediatric asthma by children, families, and community physicians.
For more information, contact Dr. Shegog at:
Email: Ross.Shegog@uth.tmc.edu
Jack W. Smith, M.D., Ph.D.; Professor and Dean, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1973; M.D., West Virginia University Medical School, 1977; M.S., Computer and Information Science, 1980; Ph.D., Computer and Information Science, 1986, Ohio State University, Post-Doctoral Fellow of the National Library of Medicine, Biomedical Computing, 1985, Ohio State University.
Dr. Jack W. Smith was recruited from Ohio State University to become the first Chairman of the Department of Health Informatics at U.T.H.S.C.-H. He was instrumental in recruiting many of our original faculty from O.S.U. In January 2003, he became the Interim Dean for the School of Health Information Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. In addition, he is Deputy Director of Medical Informatics and Healthcare Systems at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. Medical Informatics and Healthcare Systems is concerned with the issues surrounding the collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, and transmission of medical information related to spaceflight at NASA JSC. This includes investigations in a number of areas such as medical devices for collecting information both on the ground and on orbit, electronic patient records for quality and timely astronaut care, security measures to enable remote access to medical information, warehouses of medical data to enable further analyses used to determine risk factors and develop countermeasures, and technologies to support international partner collaboration on medical issues. His research interests are artificial intelligence, modeling problem solving in healthcare, implementation of decision support and tutoring systems, modeling complex human problem-solving and the application of cognitive science to understanding human-computer interaction. Dr. Smith is a board certified in Pathology and has a doctorate in Computer Science in the area of Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Smith has funded research in the modeling of problem solving in healthcare and its application to the implementation of decision- support and intelligent tutoring systems. His current research focuses on modeling clinician understanding and the implementation of systems to supporting tutoring and the decision making processes of healthcare specialists, flight surgeons and biomedical engineers. His research interests includes the modeling of complex human problem-solving in healthcare, the representations of knowledge for automating these processes and the application of cognitive science to the understanding of human-computer interaction.
For more information, contact Dr. Smith at:
Email: Jack.W.Smith@uth.tmc.edu
Elizabeth Souther, RN, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., The University of Texas at Austin, 1993; B.S.N., M.S., UTHSC-H, 1975, 2000; M.S.N., Ph.D., Texas Women’s University, 1982, 1992.
Dr. Souther has taught undergraduate and graduate nursing courses at several universities. She has been an innovator to move education programs into the electronic era. She has worked as a consultant in the Health Informatics field. Currently, Dr. Souther is an implementation specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital with the use of an electronic medical record.
For more information, contact Dr. Souther at:
Email: elsouthe@texaschildrenshospital.org
David L. Steffen, Ph.D.; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H and Professor, Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine. B.A., University of California, Berkley, 1971; and Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1977.
The Bioinformatics Research Center provides a core competency and focus for the wide range of excellent biomedical computing activities at Baylor College of Medicine. Our primary purpose is to engage in high quality research bioinformatics, both in our own projects and in collaborations with other groups. Secondarily, we provide some services (for a fee) for which we are the most appropriate host. These include the GCG suite of programs, statistical software, GeneSpring, and various computer server hosting options.
For more information, contact Dr. Steffen at:
Email: steffen@bcm.tmc.edu
Homepage: bcm.edu/research/corelabs.cfm
James P. Turley, RN, PhD; Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.A., St. Francis College, 1970; B.S., Widener University, 1973; M.A., New School for Social Research, 1976; M.S.N., Case Western Reserve University, 1977; Ph.D., University of Oregon, 1981; Post-Doctoral Fellow of the National Library of Medicine, Health Informatics, 1993.
Dr. Turley is Associate Professor. He has a BA in Philosophy and a BSN in Nursing. He has an MSN (Nursing) from Case Western Reserve University and a PhD is in Community Health Education from the University of Oregon. From 1991-1993, Dr. Turley was a National Library of Medicine Post- Doctoral Fellow at the University of Minnesota. He was an Associate Professor in The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-School of Nursing for several years. During 1990-1991, Dr. Turley was project director for the development of the Community nursing Minimum Data-Set Australia. Recent research interests include visual display of complex clinical data, and the impact of data display on decision making of clinicians and laypersons.
For more information, contact Dr. Turley at:
Email: James.P.Turley@uth.tmc.edu
Ignacio H. Valdes, MD, MS, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-. B.S., Texas A&M University, 1986; M.S., University of Houston, 1990; and M.D., University of Texas Southwestern, 1998. Dr. Valdes has developed software in the treatment of patients and healthcare professionals to reduce stress in the workplace. He is the editor of several medical computing journals. He has written numerous articles, made presentations and designs and host several medical society web pages.
For more information, contact Dr. Valdes at:
Email: ivaldes@hal-pc.org
Robert W. Vogler, DSN, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H B.S.N., Seattle University, 1966; M.Ed., North Texas State University, 1972; M.S.N., Medical College of Georgia, 1976; D.S.N., University of Alabama, 1984; F.N.P., Texas Women’s University, 1995; Post Doctoral Fellowship, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1999.
Dr. Vogler has a nursing background and has taught, held administrative positions and served as a school of nursing chief information officer and executive director of an information and educational technology center that provided information services and educational support. He has served on university level information, technology and educational committees, been involved at the university level for HIPPA, compliance, security, course management software and distance technology issues. He has participated in oversight of information technology, served on distance education committees and in university building programs. His recent research interests include blood pressure reactivity and un-witnessed patient falls. He has published journal articles, book chapters and has numerous presentations. His dissertation research focused on quality of care for terminally ill hospitalized patients.
For more information, contact Dr. Vogler at:
Email: Robert.W.Vogler@uth.tmc.edu
Hongbin Wang, PhD, Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., Peking University, 1991; M.A., M.S., Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1995, 1998, 1998.
Dr. Wang has a doctorate in Psychology (Cognitive) and masters degree in Computer Science. His research is in medical decision-making, human & machine learning, computational modeling, and human-computer interaction. Dr. Wang has several articles and book chapters. He has made several national and international presentations.
For more information, contact Dr. Wang at
Email: Hongbin.Wang@uth.tmc.edu
William A. Weems, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, and Associate Professor, Medical School, Director, Office of Academic Computing, UTHSC-H. B.S., M.S., Baylor University, 1967, 1970; Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1973.
Dr. Weems is director of the Office of Academic Computing (OAC), The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Associate Professor of Integrative Biology at the Medical School. He has conducted extensive research in the areas of neurophysiology of sympathetic ganglia, control of intestinal motility and fluid propulsion. Recent research has focused on informatics as a tool for the study of modeling and management of complex systems. Through his work in OAC, Dr. Weems has been responsible for establishing the electronic and computing infrastructure required to support academic activities at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dr. Weems has created the staff and resource support for the development of Web-based courseware, which he has pioneered with his own course in physiology. Dr. Weems has been integral to the establishment of an electronic record system at Hermann Hospital, linking Hermann with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-Medical School.
For more information, contact Dr. Weems at:
Email: William.A.Weems@uth.tmc.edu
George M. Weinstock, PhD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, and Co-Director, Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine. B.S., University of Michigan, 1970; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1977.
Dr. Weinstock is a Biochemist and Molecular Genetics specialist at the Health Science Center. He teaches microbiology and human genetics to medical school and graduate students at UT-Houston and Baylor College of Medicine. He has continuing funded research in the areas of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Genetics. He has sponsored many postdoctoral candidates. Dr. Weinstock has been invited to make presentations nationally and locally by other universities, drug companies and professional organizations. He holds patents and licenses in his fields. He has numerous articles, chapters, and books.
For more information, contact Dr. Weinstock at:
Email: gwstock@bcm.tmc.edu
Olivier Wenker, MD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Professor, Anesthesiology, Scientific Director of Technology Discovery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. M.D., University of Zuerich, 1983.
Dr. Wenker has developed Wenker Technologies and Internet Scientific Publications to provide educational technologies and peer-reviewed electronic publications on the web.
WenTek LLC (Wenker Technologies) has been incorporated in early 1998. The goal of the company is to create and produce multimedia-based educational products. The main focus is to combine modern electronic technology with medicine. Professional medical personnel is involved in the production of educational material such as CD-ROM’s, Internet web pages, Intranet pages streaming, slide shows, streaming video, interactive programming, and CME content production.
Internet Scientific Publications LLC is one of the oldest and largest International medical publishing houses on the web. All our articles, reviews, multimedia presentations and case reports are peer-reviewed. It is our goal to remain a leading source for high quality medical information on the Internet.
For more information, contact Dr. Wenker at:
Email: wenker@ispub.com
Irmgard Willcockson, PhD; Instructor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., University of California, 1987, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1997.
Dr. Willcockson is the Director of the Certificate program. She recruits working professionals in the field of informatics. The program is tailored to their needs as they progress through the program. Mentoring these students is very important to Dr. Willcockson. Her current research is evaluating outcomes from the students that are in the Foundations I course. This is an online course that requires the development of resources to make courses high in enrichment value.
She has been involved in the evaluation of educational video games. This includes instrument development, evaluation using the instrument and publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has been instrumental in writing grants for further development.
For more information, contact Dr. Willcockson at:
Email: irmgard.willcockson@uth.tmc.edu
Stephen Wong, PhD; Adjunct Professor, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H, Vice Chairman of Research, Director of Bioinformatics, The Methodist Hospital, Department of Radiology. B.E.E. University of Western Australia, 1983, M.Sc., Ph.D., Lehigh University, 1989, 1991.
Dr. Wong has various faculty positions in the electrical engineering and informatics fields. His current research encompasses brain modeling techniques, and his past research deals with computing in the medical field, especially information storage and medical imaging. Dr. Wong serves as an associate editor for various books and has had numerous publications.
For more information, contact Dr. Wong at:
Email: stwong@tmhs.org
Kevin C. Wooten, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Information Sciences, and Associate Professor, Management and Human Resources, University of Houston Clear Lake. B.A., M.A., University of Houston Clear Lake, 1976, 1978; and Ph.D., Tulane University, 1991.
Dr. Wooten’s research interests include psychological and cognitive reactions to job loss, quantitative methods for training need assessment. Change readiness and resistance, organizational fairness and justice, personality predispositions relative to career change and culture fit, measurement issues in vocational assessment, methodologies for evaluating organizational development interventions, and organizational and professional ethics.
For more information, contact Dr. Wooten at:
Email wooten@uhcl.edu
Jiajie Zhang, PhD; Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Health Information Sciences, UTHSC-H. B.S., University of Science & Technology of China, 1983; M.S., Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 1991, 1992.
Dr. Zhang is a cognitive scientist with interdisciplinary training in cognitive psychology, computer science, and neurosciences. He has done research in biomedical informatics, cognitive science, human-centered computing, user interface design, information visualization and external representation, medical error, decision-making, and computational cognitive modeling. He has authored numerous articles; book chapters, and peer-reviewed proceedings papers. He has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on more than ten grants from NASA, Office of Naval Research, Army, NIH, James S. McDonnell Foundation, and other funding agencies. He has given numerous conference presentations and invited presentations at other institutions, and organized and participated in many symposia and panels at international and national conferences. He has also served on several NIH review panels. Dr. Zhang was a recipient of John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award in 2002.
For more information, contact Dr. Zhang at:
Email: Jiajie.Zhang@uth.tmc.edu