Skip to Content
SBMI Horizontal Logo

Graduate Faculty
2012-2014 Student Handbook


Alemayehu Abebe, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, PhD, University of Zurich, 2003.

For more information, contact Dr. Abebe at:
Email: Alemayehu.G.Abebe@uth.tmc.edu or http://www.uth.tmc.edu/agorfe_lab/

Allan Abedor, PhD; Professor Emeritus, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. Abedor at:
Email: aabedor@acd1.sahs.uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Noriaki Aoki, MD, PhD, MS; MBA Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. 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. MD, Sapporo Medical University, 1991; PhD, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine, 2002; MS, The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston, 2001, MBA, University of Massachusetts, 2007.

Dr. Aoki is a board certified physician in Internal Medicine and Acute Medicine in Japan, and a fellow member of the American College of Physician (FACP) and the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine (FJSIM). He is also certified Physician Executives (CPE) certified by the American College of Physician Executives. He completed his post-doctoral research in decision science and medical informatics at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Dr. Aoki has conducted wide-ranging collaborative researches locally, nationally and internationally, which resulted more than 50 peer-reviewed original articles. 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 terrorism. He has also started projects related to medical management, health communication, knowledge management, and edutainment system development utilizing small handheld devices. Recently, he has been involved in prefecture - level community healthcare planning in Japan. In education, he has developed and deployed interdisciplinary informatics and management education program (Health Informatics and Management Program: HIMAP) in Japan, which is based on a Master’s degree program at the University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston. The graduates of the HIMAP program now established not-for-profit organization in Japan, called HIMAP, to promote education, research and development in community health care planning and initiated healthcare reform activities funded by Ministries and local governments in Japan.

For more information, contact Dr. Aoki at:
Email: Noriaki.Aoki@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Gábor Balázsi, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics and the Department of Internal Medicine, UT Medical School, UTHealth. BS, MS, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania 1996 and 1997; and MS, PhD, University of Missouri - St. Louis and Rolla, 1999 and 2001.

Dr. Balázsi is a biological physicist interested in using interdisciplinary approaches to solve fundamental biological problems, such as identifying the causes and consequences of non-genetic heterogeneity in clonal cell populations, developing novel approaches for gene expression control, and understanding the evolution of drug resistance. He is one of the recipients of the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, which was created to “stimulate highly innovative research and support promising new investigators”.

For more information, contact Dr. Balázsi at:
Email: gbalazsi@mdanderson.org

Back to Top

J. Robert Beck, MD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, and Fox Chase Cancer Center. UTHealth. BA, Dartmouth College, 1974; MD, 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: J.Robert.Beck@fccc.edu

Back to Top

Elmer V. Bernstam, MD, MSE, MS; Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics and the Department of Internal Medicine, UT Medical School, UTHealth. BS and BSE, MD, MSE, University of Michigan, 1992, 1995, 1999; MS, 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 research informatics and consumer informatics.

For more information, contact Dr. Bernstam at:
Email: Elmer.V.Bernstam@uth.tmc.edu Suresh Bhavnani, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

Back to Top

Dr. Bhavnani is associate professor of biomedical informatics in the Institute for Translational Sciences (ITS) at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, and an adjunct associate professor appointment at the UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics. Dr. Bhavnani obtained a PhD in Computational Design and Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University, and specializes in network visualization and analysis of biomedical data, with translation to the design of decision-support systems. He has received two distinguished paper awards in translational bioinformatics, and a distinguished paper award in medical informatics from the American Medical Informatics Association. In addition, he has received an outstanding research mentorship award from the University of Michigan, and the Rising STAR award from the University of Texas Systems. Bhavnani is PI of the new Discovery and Innovation through Visual Analytics (DIVA) lab at UTMB, and PI of a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information, contact Dr. Bhavnani at:
Email: SKBhavnani@gmail.com

Back to Top

Eric Boerwinkle, PhD; Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, and Professor, Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, UTHealth. BS, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1980; MA, MS, PhD, 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 board for Epidemiology and Nature Genetics. He teaches medical and graduate students at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

For more information, contact Dr. Boerwinkle at:
Email: Eric.Boerwinkle@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Juliana Brixey, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, AD, Missouri Southern State College, 1974, 1978; BSN, MSN, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 1995, 2000; PhD, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, 2006.

Dr. Brixey is an Assistant Professor at the School of Biomedical Informatics. She has numerous publications and her research includes interruptions to healthcare providers in clinical workspaces. Dr. Brixey’s area of interest lies in integration of social media in course curriculum for biomedical informatics.

For more information, contact Dr. Brixey at:
Email: Juliana.J.Brixey@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Jeffrey Chang, PhD; Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, UT Medical School, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, Biological Sciences with Honors, Stanford University; PhD, Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University. Dr. Chang works at the intersection of multiple disciplines to investigate cell signaling programs, with an emphasis on cell proliferation and fate decisions in cancer. His lab uses a genomics approach to dissect the complexity of biological phenotypes. It uses human cell culture as a model and leverages a range of techniques including bioinformatics, molecular biology, and biochemistry. Dr. Chang is a CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research.

For more information, contact Dr. Chang at:
Email: Jeffrey.T.Chang@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Jung-Wei Chen, DDS, MS, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. Dr. Chen is the program director of pediatric dentistry and a consultant of dental informatics for international oral medicine organization. She serves as chair of the CSPD E-conference Committee. Dr. Chen has a very broad scope of research interests. She has done research in human centered design in clinical electronic health record; Technology usage in dental education, interface evaluation, long distance health care (teledentistry). Dr. Chen is also active in dental clinical related research, such as HIV positive patient, sedation, cone beam CT, cleft lip and palate repair etc. Dr. Chen is trying to apply technology in health care and doing clinical care with informatician's keen evaluation. The clinic in Loma Linda University now is using paperless chart and radiography.

For more information, contact Dr. Chen at:
Email: JWChen@llu.edu

Back to Top

Wah Chiu, PhD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth and Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. BA, PhD, University of California, Berkley, 1969, 1975.

Dr. Chiu’s research is in the field of electron cryomicroscopy and structural bioinformatics. He is developing various algorithms and software packages for reconstructing, modeling and annotating 3-dimensional structures of molecular machines, viruses, organelles and cells. His research interest is to utilize computational methodologies for therapeutics and diagnostics of infectious diseases and cancer. He has numerous publications and teaches graduate courses.

For more information, contact Dr. Chiu at:
Email: Wah@bcm.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Trevor Cohen, MBChB, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. MBChB, University of Cape Town, 1999; MPhil and PhD, Columbia University.

Dr. Cohen’s primary research interest is in distributional semantics, or put somewhat more simply what machines can learn about meaning from human use of language. Current application areas include knowledge discovery and biomedical information retrieval. Additional interests include detection of, and recovery from medical errors, and the development of tools to support the thought processes that underlie medical decision making.

For more information, contact Dr. Cohen at:
Email: Trevor.Cohen@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Kim Dunn, MD, PhD; Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BA, The University of Texas at Austin, 1983; MD, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1990; PhD, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1990.

Dr. Dunn is a practicing general internist who leads the Laboratory for Telehealth and Distributed Computing at the School of Biomedical Informatics. 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 SBMI, she teaches Telemedicine, Consultation in Health Informatics, Project Management, and Advanced Informatics. She assists in developing the strategic directions for the SBMI.

For more information, contact Dr. Dunn at:
Email: Kim.Dunn@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Mary Edgerton, MD, PhD, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth and Professor, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. BS, University of Texas, 1976; PhD, The University of East Anglia, 1979; MD, Medical College of Pennsylvania. 1994.

Dr. Edgerton is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and was an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Vanderbilt University and an Associate Professor in the Division of Anatomic Pathology at the Moffitt Cancer Center before coming to MD Anderson, where she is currently an Associate Professor with tenure. Dr. Edgerton’s research is focused on discovery of mechanisms in cancer genesis and progression. She works on the development of mathematical models for computer simulations of spread of ductal carcinoma in situ, and the role of cell motility in extensive disease. She also researches methods for the analysis of gene expression array data for pathway and molecular targets discovery. She has published on the application of these methods to lung cancer and breast cancer profiles data, and is currently extending this analysis to premalignant breast disease and to brain cancer. In addition to researching mechanisms, Dr. Edgerton has worked on the development of integrated information platforms for tissue acquisition, clinical annotation, and molecular profiling. She has contributed to the development of standards for data sharing and to ontologies to be used for tissue annotation. She is currently working with the clinical and research informatics systems to implement an “adapter” strategy to make MD Anderson compliant with the Cancer Bioinformatics Grid (CaBIG).

For more information, contact Dr. Edgerton at:
Email: medgerton@mdanderson.org

Back to Top

Oliver Esch, MD, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, Technical University of Aachen, 1973; MD, Aachen Medical School, 1983.

Dr. 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 Branchin Galveston, Texas. 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 Dr. Esch has served as faculty liaison for all imaging related aspects of Telemedicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Esch 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 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 SBMI, 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@utmb.edu

Back to Top

Adol Esquivel, MD, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. Esquivel at:
Email: adol@informaticsinbiomedicine.com

Jose Florez-Arango, MD, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. Florez-Arango at:
Email: josefflo@medicina.udea.edu.co

Back to Top

Yuriy Fofanov, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth and Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of Houston. MS, PhD; Kuibyshev (Samara) State University, 1977, 1988.

Dr. Fofanov’s research areas are genomics and bioinformatics. Dr. Fofanov is also Associate Professor of computer science, biology & biochemistry, engineering technology and director of the Center for Biomedical and Environmental Genomics and the University of Houston. His research is focused on applications of the Next Generation Sequencing technology for environmental genomics, pathogen identification and cancer genomics.

For more information, contact Dr. Fofanov at:
Email: yfofanov@uh.edu

Back to Top

Amy Franklin, PhD; Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS University of Houston, 1999; MS, PhD, 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.

For more information, contact Dr. Franklin at:
Email: Amy.Franklin@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

John C. Frenzel, MD, MS; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth and Associate Professor, Dept. of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. BS, BA, Emory University, 1984; MD, Baylor College of Medicine, 1989; MS, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, 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 MD 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: jfrenzel@mdanderson.org

Back to Top

Lex Frieden, LLD (Hon.), MA; Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UTHealth. BS, University of Tulsa, 1971, MA, University of Houston, 1979.

Mr. Frieden is Professor of Biomedical Informatics and of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and he is Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine. Mr. Frieden also directs the Independent Living Research Utilization Program (ILRU) at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston. ILRU is a research, training and technical assistance program on independent living for people with disabilities and seniors. Mr. Frieden has served as chairperson of the National Council on Disability, president of Rehabilitation International, and chairperson of the American Association of People with Disabilities. He is recognized as one of the founders of the “independent living” movement in the early 1970’s, and he was instrumental in conceiving and drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. A graduate of Tulsa University, Mr. Frieden has been honored as a Distinguished Alumnus. He holds a master’s degree in social psychology from the University of Houston, and has been awarded an honorary doctorate in law by the National University of Ireland. He has received two Presidential Citations for his work in the field of disabilities.

For more information, contact Mr. Frieden at:
Email: Lex.Frieden@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Tsuguya Fukui, MD, MPH, PhD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth 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@kuhp.kyoto-u-ac.jp

Back to Top

Yang Gong, PhD; Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. Gong at:
Email: Yang.Gong@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

David Gorenstein, PhD, Associate Dean for Research, UT School of Medicine at Houston, Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, Deputy Director and James T. Willerson Distinguished Chair, The Brown Institute of Molecular Medicine, UTHealth. PhD, Harvard University, 1969, AM, Harvard University, 1967, SB, M.I.T, 1966.

Dr. Gorenstein’s group is involved in proteomics, drug design, nanotechnology, and computational chemistry and is also interested in the development of biophysical applications of NMR spectroscopy to probe the detailed structure and dynamics of biological molecules, including RNA, DNA, proteins and drug complexes. The School has a program in proteomics and nanotechnology for both diagnostics and therapeutics which involves the development of next-generation aptamers (“X-aptamers”) and novel combinatorial selection technologies and the use of X-aptamer nanoparticles as countermeasures for biodefense and emerging infectious diseases and cancer. Dr. Gorenstein is also developing with Sandia National Laboratory a hand-held, Point-of-Care X-aptamer microfluidics chip-based proteomics diagnostics technology. The University of Texas Health.

For more information, contact Dr. Gorenstein at:
Email: David.G.Gorenstein@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

James Griffiths, MD, Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, and Executive Director, Clinical Technology, Medical School, UTHealth, MD, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 1991.

For more information contact Dr. Griffiths at:
Email: James.J.Griffiths@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Chiehwen Ed Hsu, PhD; Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, and School of Public Health, UTHealth, BS, Fujen Catholic University, 1994; MPH, MS, PhD, University of Texas, 1997, 2000, 2001.

Dr. Hsu serves as a coordinator of coordinates UTHealth MPH/PhD and MPH/MS dual-degree programs and a joint graduate certificate program in Public Health Informatics co-offered by UTHealth’s SBMI and SPH, and is a professor of public health informatics. His research encompasses emergency preparedness and response, and reduction of health disparities. Dr. Hsu has more than 30 book chapters and peer-reviewed articles published. He 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 or 713.500.3969

Back to Top

Robert L. Hunter, MD, PhD; Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, and Professor and Chair, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UTHealth Medical School. BS, Harvard University, 1961; MS, MD, PhD, University of Chicago, 1965, 1965, 1969. Dr. Hunter is chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the UTHealth 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

Back to Top

Jonathan Ishee, JD, MPH, MS, LLM; Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BSM, A. B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, 2001; MPH, University of Texas Health School of Public Health at Houston 2003; MS, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, 2004; JD, Cum Laude, Tulane University 2005; LLM in Health Law, University of Houston Law Center, 2009.

For more information, contact Mr. Ishee at:
Email: Jonathan.M.Ishee@uth.tmc.edu

M.Sriram Iyengar, PhD; Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. B. Technology, The Indian Institute of Technology, 1974; MS, The Indian Institute of Sciences, 1977; MS, PhD, 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: M.Sriram.Iyengar@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

John C. Joe, MD, MPH; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth; MD, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, 1988; and MPH, University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston, 1993.

Dr. Joe is the Chief Medical Information Officer of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System and the founding Executive Director of the Greater Houston Health Information Exchange. He has extensive experience in primary healthcare delivery; healthcare administration and finance; health information systems design and development; clinical process redesign and systems implementation; and HIE design, funding, governance, planning, and implementation. During the past 16 years, Dr. Joe has served as an advisor on EHRs, HIEs and health IT for numerous federal and state agencies, local and regional public health entities, foreign ministries of health, and non-profit health organizations. He has been a consultant for NASA’s astronaut health program since 2001; served on the ONC’s Federal Health Architecture Leadership Council since 2008; served on the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel, including Tiger Teams for ARRA requirements and quality measures; and pilot-tested the 2009 CCHIT hospital EHR, health information exchange, interoperability, and privacy & security certification program, providing advice on test administration and criteria. In the late 1990s, Dr. Joe helped develop one of the first patient portals in the nation for secure health information exchange between patients and physicians’ EHRs. He founded a software and services company which was later sold to a successor that now provides HIE software to more than 40,000 physicians. In the 2000s, Dr. Joe co-founded a clinical information system software and services company where he directed the creation of one of the first six inpatient EHR systems to become fully-certified by the CCHIT. He has assisted more than 2,500 physicians of all specialties and many hospitals of all sizes in implementing EHR systems and has developed business and strategic plans for regional and state HIEs. As a Board-certified and practicing family physician, Dr. Joe is the past president of the Harris County Academy of Family Physicians and serves on the Boards of both the Harris County and Texas Academy of Family Physicians. He is also an assistant professor of family medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and an adjunct professor of medical informatics at SBMI.

For more information, contact Dr. Joe at:
Email: jcjoe@bcm.edu

Back to Top

Constance M. Johnson, PhD, RN; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, BSN, University of Connecticut, 1978; MS, PhD, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, 2001, 2003.

For more information, contact Dr. Johnson at:
Email: constance.johnson@duke.edu

Back to Top

Craig W. Johnson, PhD; Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BA, BS, MA, PhD, University of Nebraska, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1978.

Dr. Johnson has been a faculty member of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston since 1983. Dr. Johnson’s PhD 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 health and education 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 information technologies for research. Dr. Johnson authored the computer game, BlockAIDS - The AIDS Education Game. Dr. Johnson has been a leader in the area of Web-based courseware research and development. He developed a theoretical framework for the design of Web-based instruction (WBI) called the HyperTutor Model. More recently Dr. Johnson has focused research efforts on proactive informatics solutions for the diagnosis, prediction, and prevention of graduate and biomedical science student adverse academic status events. Dr. Johnson is a multiple winner of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award.

For more information, contact Dr. Johnson at:
Email: Craig.W.Johnson@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Ioannis A. Kakadiaris, PhD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, University of Athens, 1989; MS, Northeastern University, 1991; PhD, 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 University of Houston 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

Back to Top

Helen Li, MD; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth; Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Weil Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and the Department of Ophthalmology, Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas; Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Thomas Jefferson University; BS, University of Pittsburgh, 1977; MD, UTHealth Medical School, 1986.

Dr. Li's research interests include information technology for delivering eye care, retinal diseases and ocular oncology. She has published on digital imagery standards for clinical research and telemedicine and co-edited both editions of, "Telehealth Practice Recommendations for Diabetic Retinopathy," published by the American Telemedicine Association's Telemedicine and eHealth journal. Dr. Li is past chair of the American Telemedicine Association's Ocular Telehealth Special Interest Group. Her research support includes grants from the National Institutes of Health, foundations and industry. Dr. Li is a four-time recipient of Faculty of the Year Awards from the University of Texas Medical Branch's Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences. She teaches medical students, graduate students and supervises practicums and theses for UTHealth Biomedical Informatics master and doctoral students.

For more information, contact Dr. Li at:
Email: hlimed@mac.com

Back to Top

Yin Liu, PhD; Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, and Assistant Professor, The University of Texas at Austin. PhD, Yale University, 2007.

For more information, contact Dr. Liu at:
Email: Yin.Liu@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Jianpeng Ma, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, Fudan University, 1985; PhD, 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

Back to Top

Rodger Marion, PhD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, Professor and Assistant Dean for Research and Educational Technology, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas. BA, MS, California State University, 1966, 1968 and PhD, University of Kentucky, 1978.

For more information, contact Dr. Marion at:
Email: rmarion@utmb.edu Home page: http://www.sahs.utmb.edu/vision/Bios/rodger_marion_ph.htm

Back to Top

Allison McCoy, PhD; Assistant Professor, Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. McCoy at:
Email: Allison.B.McCoy@uth.tmc.edu

Patrick J. McGinnis, MD, MS; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, Xavier University; MD, University of Kentucky, 1988; MS, Wright State University, 1992; MS, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2001.

For more information, contact Dr. McGinnis at:
Email: pat.mcginnis@gmail.com

Back to Top

Sharon McLane, PhD, MBA, RN, BC; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. McLane at:
Email: Sharon.McLane@lrmc.com

Back to Top

Aleksander Milosavljeic, PhD, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. PhD, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1990, MS, Santa Clara University, 1986.

The Bioinformatics Research Laboratory (BRL), directed by Dr. Milosavljevic, develops new experimental and computational methods for discovery through genomics, epigenomics and informatics. BRL aims to enable new discovery methodologies employing massively parallel sequencing and other high-throughput genomic technologies. A recent research initiative is the construction of the Epigenome Atlas as part of the NIH Epigenomics Roadmap Initiative. The Genboree Discovery System is the largest software system developed at BRL. Genboree is a turnkey software system for genomic research. The Epigenomics Data Analysis and Coordination Center and a number of collaborative epigenomic projects use Genboree as the core informatic infrastructure. Our Positional Hashing method, implemented in the Pash program, enables extremely fast and accurate high-volume sequence comparison and pattern discovery by employing low-level parallelism. By being able to accurately analyze billions of sequence fragments from ChIP-seq, bisulfite-seq and other *-seq assays performed in the course of the NIH Epigenomics Roadmap Initiative project, we anticipate to be able to gain insights into the interplay between human genetic and epigenetic variation. BRL is also developing comprehensive, rapid, and economical methods for detecting and interpreting recurrent chromosomal aberrations in cancer using massively parallel sequencing technologies.

For more information, contact Dr. Milosavljeic at:
Email: amilosav@bcm.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Parsa Mirhaji, MD, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2009, MD, 2001.

Dr. Mirhaji is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies in the University of Texas, School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston, and the director of the Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Informatics Research, where he has developed clinical text understanding algorithms, case detection methodologies, and a reference architecture for situational awareness for public health preparedness (SARA) using semantic technologies and SOA. Dr. Mirhaji has been an acting committee member on the Texas Hospital Preparedness Program at the Texas Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Institute for Health Policy Research, a selected member of Technology Subcommittee - Health Information Technology Advisory Commission, Texas Department of Health and Human Services, the chair of the “International Defense and Homeland Security Conference 2003-2008”, and the “International Conference on Rule Markup Languages for the Semantic Web 2007-2008” . Dr. Mirhaji and his fellow researchers were awarded “The Best Practice in Public Health Award-2002” by the Department of Health and Human Services for establishing the Defense of Houston web-portal for community awareness and public readiness in the aftermath of September 11 attacks. Dr. Mirhaji’s research involves application of semantic technologies in information integration, biomedical vocabularies and taxonomies, natural language understanding, automation and context awareness, translational bioinformatics, and public health informatics.

For more information, contact Dr. Mirhaji at
Email: Parsa.Mirhaji@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Kevin Montgomery, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, University of Delaware, 1988, MS, PhD, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1994, 1996.

Dr. Montgomery’s research areas include biosensors, disaster management, global health, 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.

For more information, contact Dr. Montgomery at:
Email: Kevin.Montgomery@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Robert E. Murphy, MD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics.

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

Back to Top

Koichi Nobutomo, MD, PhD: Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Informatics, and Professor, Kyushu University Graduate School Division of Medical Sciences Management and Policy, MD, PhD, Kyushu University, 1971, 1978. MS Harvard University, 1980.

For more information, contact Dr. Nobutomo at:
Email: nobutomo@hsmp.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp

Back to Top

Sachiko Ohta, MD, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth; MD, Sapporo Medical University, 1990, PhD, Okayama University Medical School, 1997, MS University of Texas Houston, 2007.

For more information, contact Dr. Ohta at:
Email: o-chiko@mub.biglobe.ne.jp

Back to Top

Paula O’Neill, EdD; Professor, Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth; Associate Dean, for Educational Research and Professional Development, Professor Department of Diagnostic Sciences, The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston; BA, University of Sioux Falls, MEd, EdD, University of Texas, 1985, 1989.

Dr. O’Neill is the Associate Dean for Educational Research and Professional Development at the University of Texas School of Dentistry and is also a tenured professor of Diagnostic Sciences. Dr. O’Neill received a certificate in Biomedical Communication/Instructional Design from the School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth.

For more information, contact Dr. O’Neill at:
Email: Paula.N.Oneill@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Jagannatha Rao, MD, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth For more information, contact Dr. Rao at: Email: jrao@indicasat.org.pa John Riggs, MD, MS; Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Medical School, UTHealth. BA Trinity University, 1982, MD, MS, UTHealth, 1986, 2001.

For more information, contact Dr. Riggs at:
Email: John.W.Riggs@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Doris L. Ross, PhD, Dean Emerita, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, BS, Texas Woman’s University, 1947; MT (ASCP), Hermann Hospital, 1948; MS, Baylor College of Medicine, 1958; PhD, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1967. Dr. Ross is a Biochemist. She is one the first graduates of the UTHealth 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 Biomedical Informatics. The School received approval to offer a master’s 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 March2001, the official name of the school was changed to the School of Biomedical Informatics and she was officially named Dean.

For more information, contact Dr. Ross at:
Email: Doris.L.Ross@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Mano S. Selvan, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. PhD, Bharathia University, 1994; MS Biostatistics, UT School of Public Health, 2000.

Dr. Mano Selvan serves as pharmacy research scientist for Competitive Health Analytics, Inc (Humana Corporation). She is responsible for data management and analysis throughout a research project's life cycle. Dr. Selvan worked for The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for over eight years where she conducted research and quality improvement studies focused on individual disease-specific risk factors, clinical and pharmacy management programs to enhance patient safety, effectiveness and outcomes. She has also worked at a major hospital system at Houston for about three years as an outcomes researcher focusing on information technology interventions to improve quality of care. She was the principal investigator and co-investigator for several outcomes studies aimed to improve appropriate care standards for diseases and appropriate management of drugs like warfarin and epoetin and darbepoetin by implementing innovative interventions. Much of her work centered around leading projects focusing on understanding disease specific risk factors, evaluation of outcomes of clinical information technology interventions, effective management strategies, pay for performance and evidence-based healthcare projects and their impact on clinical and cost outcomes. Dr. Selvan is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Texas School Of Biomedical Informatics. She is also a member in the University of Texas - Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality and Safety. Dr. Selvan has authored and co-authored several scientific abstracts, posters, book chapters and peer-review scientific manuscripts.

For more information, please contact Dr. Selvan at:
Email: manoselvan@yahoo.com

Back to Top

M. Michael Shabot, MD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, University of Texas, 1966, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, 1970.

M. Michael Shabot, MD 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 340 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

Back to Top

Ross Shegog, BSc, ND, BMC, MPH, PhD; Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, Assistant Professor in the Division of Behavioral Science, School of Public Health, UTHealth; BSc, University of Sidney, 1983, MPH, PhD, University of Texas, 1992, 1997.

Dr. Shegog is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion at the UTHealth School of Public Health Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research and Associate Director of Communication and Dissemination in the UT Prevention Research Center. His research is devoted to enhancing the effectiveness of health communication by furthering our understanding of how instructional technology can impact health behavior change. The unifying themes of his research are the (1) design of innovative behavioral change software that uniquely operationalize behavioral science theory and methods, (2) implementation of interventions through the novel integration of delivery platforms and media strategies, (3) efficacy and effectiveness of technology-based interventions in impacting behavior change, and (4) dissemination research on technology-based interventions for extended reach to at-risk populations. His teaching and mentoring focuses on training students to understand and apply behavioral theory and models in public health interventions. His local and national service focuses on enhancing innovation in public health research and practice. Research 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 (‘Watch, Discover, Think, then Act’), CD_ROM and internet-based applications for smoking cessation and prevention in child and adolescent populations (‘ASPIRE’ and ‘Headbutt’), computer-based HIV/STD and pregnancy prevention in middle school children (‘It’s Your Game’), and internet-based violence prevention in high school and college populations (‘Peacetest’). Most recent and current projects include the development of an Internet-based HIV, STI, and pregnancy prevention curriculum for middle school children (‘It’s Your Game-Tech’), clinic-based PDA decision support for epilepsy management (‘MINDSET’), and clinic-based self-management skills training for HIV+ youth (‘+CLICK’).

For more information, contact Dr. Shegog at:
Email: Ross.Shegog@uth.tmc.edu

Hardeep Singh, BS, MD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. Singh at:
Email: hardeeps@bcm.edu

Back to Top

Anwar Sirajuddin, MBBS, MS, CPHIMS; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

Siraj completed his medical degree at the University of Mysore (India) in 2001, and practiced primary care in India before coming to the United States to complete his Master’s degree in Health Informatics at the University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics. Siraj joined Memorial Hermann in April 2006, after obtaining his master’s degree. In his time at Memorial Hermann, Siraj has been a key leader in creating improvements in patient safety, quality and operational excellence using clinical decision support tools within Care4. Siraj advanced quickly from a role as a clinical application analyst to becoming the clinical informaticist for CDS. He has facilitated clinical workflow analysis with physicians, nurses, pharmacist, case managers, and quality and performance improvement staff across the organization, and worked within information systems colleagues to discover the advanced capabilities of our applications to best design CDS intervention to improve patient care. Siraj was nominated for System Services “Employee of the Year” in 2010, and was a member of the CDS Oversight Committee team that received the Gold Circle “Breakthrough of the Year” in Quality Award in 2010 as well as the Breakthrough of the Quarter award for quality and patient safety in 2008. Siraj developed the methodologies and algorithms to determine the number of “Good Catches” from our CDS interventions, medical errors that were prevented within Care4 before reaching a patient and potentially causing an adverse event. Siraj also serves as an adjunct faculty member of the University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics, where he has taught courses in “Introduction to Electronic Health Records” and “Introduction to Applied Clinical Decision Support.” He has published journal articles in the Journal of Healthcare Information Management and the International Journal of Medical Informatics, and was a Section Editor of the 2010 best-selling book from HIMSS, “Improving Medication Use and Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: A Step-by-Step Guide.” He has lectured and presented with the Scottsdale Institute, HIMSS and at the Cerner Health Conference. He is also the chair of the UT School of Biomedical Informatics alumni association for the 2011 academic year. Siraj recently became a “Certified Professional in Health Information Management Systems (CPHIMS)” in January of 2010 that is administered by the Health Information & Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Siraj is currently working as the Manager of Clinical Solutions for Clinical Decision Support in the Medical Informatics department at Memorial Hermann. His key role is to oversee the design & successful implementation of clinical decision support tools at Memorial Hermann.

For more information, contact Mr. Siraj at:
Email: Anwar.MohammadSirajuddin2@memorialhermann.org

Back to Top

Dean Sittig, PhD, Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth

For more information, contact Dr. Sittig at:
Email: Dean.F.Sittig@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Jack Smith, MD, PhD Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1973; MD, West Virginia University Medical School, 1977; MS, Computer and Information Science, 1980; PhD, Computer and Information Science, 1986, Ohio State University, Post-Doctoral Fellow of the National Library of Medicine, Biomedical Computing, 1985, Ohio State University.

Dr. Smith was recruited from Ohio State University to become the first Chairman of the Department of Health Informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He was instrumental in recruiting many of the original faculty from Ohio State University. In January 2003, he became the Interim Dean. In December 2005, Dr. Smith was appointed Dean of the School of Health Information Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He is a former team Leader of Medical Informatics and Healthcare Systems at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. His work focused on the collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, and transmission of medical information related to NASA spaceflight. Dr. Smith was appointed Co-Director of the Bioinformatics component of the CTSA grant awarded to The University of Texas Health Science Center in 2006. He joined a large team of medical professionals who have established the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences in partnership with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Memorial Hermann Hospital System. Dr. Smith serves as an informatics consultant to other universities seeking application for a CTSA grant. His research interests include artificial intelligence, modeling complex problem-solving in healthcare, implementation of decision support and tutoring systems, and the application of cognitive science to understanding human-computer interaction. He has served on several national committees associated of the American Medical Informatics Association and also serves on several university advisory boards in review of their informatics programs.

For more information, contact Dr. Smith at:
Email: Jack.W.Smith@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Elizabeth Souther, RN, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, The University of Texas at Austin, 1993; BSN, MS, UTHealth, 1975, 2000; MSN, PhD, 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

Back to Top

James P. Turley, RN, PhD; Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BA, St. Francis College, 1970; BS, Widener University, 1973; MA, New School for Social Research, 1976; MSN, Case Western Reserve University, 1977; PhD, University of Oregon, 1981; Post-Doctoral Fellow of the National Library of Medicine, Health Informatics, 1993.

Dr. Turley is the founding faculty member of the School of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (formerly the School of Allied Health Science). He was responsible for the development of the curriculum for the Master of Science and Doctor of Science Programs and the development of the Applied Master of Health Informatics Program. He has worked nationally and internationally in the areas of knowledge modeling and taxonomy development. He was project director for the development of the Community Nurse Minimum Data Set-Australia, which has since been incorporated into the Australian National Minimum Data Set. Since then, his research and education have focused on the interface between discipline specific and an integrated Health Focus for Informatics and Health Data Utilization. More recently this work has included the need to develop a light weight electronic health record for the street homeless. This project has begun a reconceptualization of the needs and structures of health data for electronic health records and patient specific health records.

For more information, contact Dr. Turley at:
Email: James.P.Turley@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Ignacio H. Valdes, MD, MS, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, Health. BS, Texas A&M University, 1986; MS, University of Houston, 1990; and MD, 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

Back to Top

Robert W. Vogler, DSN, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BSN, Seattle University, 1966; MEd, North Texas State University, 1972; MSN, Medical College of Georgia, 1976; DSN, University of Alabama, 1984; FNP, 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

Back to Top

Muhammad F. Walji, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics and Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Sciences, Dental Branch. UTHealth. BS, The University of Texas at Dallas, MS, PhD

Dr. Walji has been recruited by the UT Dental Branch to bridge the gap between endodontics and electronics, prosthodontics and programs, and all things dental with all things digital. Dr. Walji is the Dental Branch's new informatician. Muhammad F Walji PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences at the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston and an adjunct assistant professor at UTH-SBMI. Dr Walji’s research has focused on assessing usability of HIT systems, and improving decisions of patient and providers through the use of the electronic health record and point of care decision support. Dr Walji currently serves as Principal Investigator of a NLM funded grant to develop an Inter-university Oral Health Data Repository that will allow end users to directly explore and extract information to support their specific research or decision making needs. He is also the current chair of the ADEA Section on Dental Informatics and serves on the Board of Directors for the Consortium of Oral Health Related Informatics (COHRI).

For more information contact Dr. Walji at:
Email: Muhammad.F.Walji@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Hongbin Wang, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, Peking University, 1991; MA, MS, PhD, The Ohio State University, 1995, 1998, 1998. Dr. Wang has a doctorate in Psychology (Cognitive) and master’s 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

Back to Top

William A. Weems, PhD; Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, and Associate Professor, Medical School, Director, Office of Academic Computing, UTHealth. BS, MS, Baylor University, 1967, 1970; PhD, 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

Back to Top

Olivier Wenker, MD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, Professor, Anesthesiology, Scientific Director of Technology Discovery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. MD, University of Zuerich, 1983. For more information, contact Dr. Wenker at: Email: wenker@ispub.com Irmgard Willcockson, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, University of California, 1987, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, 1997. Dr. Willcockson’s main research interest is in using technology to teach. A particular interest is the use of games to teach health science concepts to children and youth. She teaches the popular Emerging Technology course that addresses current developments in teaching, learning, and research. Her other role at the school is as Director of the Certificate program, recruiting and advising students both in the certificate and in their transition to the MS or PhD Program. In this role she examines several facets of informatics education, for example predicting student success in the school’s degree programs and retention.

For more information, contact Dr. Willcockson at:
Email: irmgard.willcockson@uth.tmc.edu

Back to Top

Stephen Wong, PhD; Adjunct Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BEE(Hons) University of Western Australia, 1983, MSc, PhD, Lehigh University, 1989, 1991. Dr. Wong has various faculty positions in the electrical, computer, mechanical, and bioengineering, molecular and cell biology, neurosciences, and informatics fields. His current research encompasses cancer systems biology, computational neuroscience and imaging, drug repositioning and discovery, biophotonics, image-guided therapy, brain modeling techniques, and his past research deals with computing in the medical field, especially information storage and medical imaging, and with electronics and communication network designs. Dr. Wong serves on the editorial boards of eleven scientific and medical journals, including as the Editor-in-Chief for Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics and has had numerous publications and patents.

For more information, contact Dr. Wong at:
Email: stwong@tmhs.org

Back to Top

Kevin C. Wooten, PhD; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BA, MA, University of Houston Clear Lake, 1976, 1978; and PhD, 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 kwooten001@comcast.net

Back to Top

Jiajie Zhang, PhD; Dr. Doris L. Ross Professor and Interim Dean, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth. BS, University of Science & Technology of China, 1983; MS, PhD, 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 over 130 publications. He has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on many grants from NASA, Office of Naval Research, Army, ONC, NIH, James S. McDonnell Foundation, and other funding agencies. Most recently he is the Principal Investigator of the ONC funded SHARP grant on Patient-Centered Cognitive Support. Dr. Zhang was a recipient of John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher. Dr. Zhang is an elected Fellow of American College of Medical Informatics.

Back to Top

For more information, contact Dr. Zhang at:
Email: Jiajie.Zhang@uth.tmc.edu

Shuxing Zhang, PhD; Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth, Houston.

For more information, contact Dr. Zhang at:
Email: ShuZhang@mdanderson.org

Back to Top