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Department of Clinical and Health Informatics

Welcome to the Department of Clinical and Health Informatics, a hub of innovation where healthcare meets the cutting edge of health informatics. We are a dynamic community of educators, researchers, and practitioners committed to leveraging clinical and health informatics to improve patient care, enhance population health, and transform the healthcare landscape. Whether you are a prospective student, a potential collaborator, or a member of the public interested in the future of healthcare, we invite you to explore our work and join us in our mission to improve health for all.

 

Our Department

The Department of Clinical and Health Informatics is a leader in the education, discovery, and application of informatics principles to improve health outcomes. We are a multidisciplinary department that brings together experts in medicine, public health, computer science, and data science. Our work is focused on developing and implementing innovative solutions to complex health problems, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and community engagement.

Vision Statement: To be the leaders in clinical and health informatics education, discovery, and application

MISSION

In the pursuit of improving health, our mission is to combine health expertise with advances in informatics by:

Training

TRAINING

Training the next generation of clinical and health informaticians to help solve pressing challenges.

Collaboration

COLLABORATION

Collaborating with organizations across the healthcare spectrum to design and implement transformative solutions.

Research

RESEARCH

Conducting innovative research that has a tangible impact on the communities we serve.

 

Research Centers and Labs

Our department is home to several state-of-the-art research centers and labs that are at the forefront of informatics research. These initiatives drive innovation and collaboration, translating data-driven discoveries into real-world health solutions.

  • Center for Behavioral Emergency and Addiction Research (C-Bear): Led by Dr. James Langabeer, C-Bear brings together a multidisciplinary team to improve health systems and science for vulnerable populations. By applying health data science to challenges in behavioral informatics, cardiovascular and emergency care, and health policy, the center focuses on creating impactful prevention and treatment programs, particularly for individuals interacting with emergency departments and first responders.
  • Center for Quality Health IT Improvement (CQHII): Under the leadership of Dr. Susan Fenton, CQHII provides expert health information technology (HIT) and care transformation consulting. Having successfully guided over 2,200 clinicians to achieve Meaningful Use of electronic health records (EHRs), CQHII now offers fee-for-service consulting to clinicians and hospitals. The center has a proven track record of improving practice workflows, patient care, and safety through the optimized use of EHRs across Southeastern Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.
  • Center for Digital Health and Analytics (DHA): Directed by Dr. Amy Franklin, the DHA leverages research in Human Factors, Cognitive Informatics, and Behavior Science to drive innovation in digital health. In addition to grant collaborations and training, the center offers fee- for-service development and implementation of clinical and patient-centered applications, as well as product development in digital healthcare and analytics.
  • UTHealth Biomedical Informatics Group Analytics Research Center (BIG-Arc): Directed by Dr. Elmer Bernstam, BIG-Arc focuses on leveraging biomedical data for research and clinical care. As part of the national CTSA network, the center excels in obtaining, integrating, and analyzing complex data through the use and creation of advanced tools (e.g., NLP, eMPI), service provision, and pioneering research in areas like precision oncology and clinical decision support.
  • The University of Texas Health Intelligence Platform (UT-HIP): At McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, UT-HIP is led by Dr. Robert Murphy. This system-wide platform integrates and analyzes health data from across the six UT System health institutions. By fostering collaboration and applying health data science, UT-HIP aims to improve the patient experience, advance population health, and reduce healthcare costs.

FACULTY


Muhammad Walji, PhD
Muhammad Walji, PhD

Professor

Chair, Department of Clinical and Health Informatics


Elmer Bernstam, MD, MSE
Elmer Bernstam, MD, MSE

Professor

Research Areas: Information Retrieval, Consumer Informatics, Clinical Decision Support

Christine Bakos-Block, PhD
Christine Bakos-Block, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Clinical Research, Mental and Behaviorial Health, and Substance Abuse Disorder

Juliana Brixey, PhD, MPH, RN
Juliana Brixey, PhD, MPH, RN

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Patient Safety, Interruptions in Workflow, Social Media in Distance Education

Erika M. Cavazos-Juarez, DHI, MBBS, MS, PMP
Erika M. Cavazos-Juarez, DHI, MBBS, MS, PMP

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Clinical Informatics, Patient Safety, Public Health Quality, Project Management

Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer, PhD
Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer, PhD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Healthcare Management, Health Policy, Health Information Exchange

Rigoberto I. Delgado, PhD, MBA
Rigoberto I. Delgado, PhD, MBA

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Applied Population Health Analytics, Cost-effectiveness Methods, Health Services Research

Babtope Fatuyi
Babatope Fatuyi

Assistant Professor and Chief Medical Information Officer

Research Areas: Information Systems, Databases, Electronic Health Records

Susan Fenton, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA
Susan Fenton, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA

Professor

Research Areas: Workforce development, ICD-11 Implementation, Optimal use of health information technology for chronic and preventive care...

Amy Franklin, PhD
Amy Franklin, PhD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Psycho-linguistics, Conversational Negotiation, Reduction of Medical Errors

Lex Frieden, MA, LLD (hon)
Lex Frieden, MA, LLD (hon)

Professor

Research Areas: Disability Informatics, Health Care Access and Costs, Rehabilitation Technology and Robotics

Sunyang Fu, PhD
Sunyang Fu, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Clinical Research Informatics, Clinical and Translational Research, Data Quality and Heterogeneity, Reproducibility ...

Yang Gong, MD, PhD
Yang Gong, MD, PhD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Clinical Informatics, Medical Incident Reporting, Patient Safety

Jonathan Ishee, JD, MPH, MS, LLM
Jonathan Ishee, JD, MPH, MS, LLM

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Health Policy, Patient Safety, Health Information Exchange

Constance Johnson, PhD, MS, RN, FAAN
Constance Johnson, PhD, MS, RN, FAAN

Professor

Research Areas: Human-computer Interaction, Consumer Health Informatics, Games for Health

Todd Johnson, PhD
Todd Johnson, PhD

Professor

Research Areas: Medical Device Usability and Safety, Patient Safety & Quality, Human Factors Engineering

Peter Killoran, MS, MD
Peter Killoran, MS, MD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Health IT and Clinical Decision Making, Integrating Techniques into EMRS, Anesthesia Emergency Room Data

James Langabeer, II, PhD, MBA
James Langabeer, II, PhD, MBA

Professor

Research Areas: Clinical Systems of Care, Cardiovascular Quality and Analytics, Health Information Exchange

Marjan Madadi, PhD
Marjan Madadi, PhD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Stochastic Optimization, Sequential Decision Making, Reinforcement Learning, Machine Learning...

Robert E. Murphy, MD
Robert E. Murphy, MD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Clinical Decision Support, Physician Health IT Adoption, Clinical System Implementations

Sahiti Myneni, PhD, MSE
Sahiti Myneni, PhD, MSE

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Consumer informatics, Health-related Social Media Analytics, Data-driven Digital Health Technologies

Deevakar Rogith, MBBS, PhD
Deevakar Rogith, MBBS, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Healthcare Interface Design, Patient Safety, Clinical Informatics

Angela Ross, DNP, MS, MPH, RN, PHCNS-BC, FHIMSS, PMP, DASM, FAAN
Angela Ross, DNP, MS, MPH, RN, PHCNS-BC, FHIMSS, PMP, DASM, FAAN

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Performance Improvement, Project Management and Evaluation, System Implementation

Debora Simmons, PhD, RN, CCNS, FAAN
Debora Simmons, PhD, RN, CCNS, FAAN

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Safety, Quality, Clinical Effectiveness

Dean Sittig, PhD
Dean Sittig, PhD

Professor Emeritus

Research Areas: Clinical information Systems, Design of New Features and Functions, Evaluations and Monitoring

Sayali Tungare, BDS, MPH, PhD
Sayali Tungare, BDS, MPH, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Dental Informatics, Mixed Methods Research, Electronic Health Record (EHR) Data Analysis, Prescription Drug Stewardship (Opioid and Antibiotic Prescribing)...

V. Gail Turner, DNP, MBA, NI-BC, PMP
V. Gail Turner, DNP, MBA, NI-BC, PMP

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Clinical informatics, Integration of Healthcare Practice in Informatics, Clinical Software and Clinical Project Implementation

Liwei Wang, MD, PhD
Liwei Wang, MD, PhD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Information extraction and data mining, Cancer informatics, Mental health informatics, Real-world evidence ...

Andrea Yatsco, PhD, CADC, LCDC
Andrea Yatsco, PhD, CADC, LCDC

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Public Health and Substance Use Disorders, Systematic Public Health Responses, Behavioral Informatics

Jiajie Zhang, PhD
Jiajie Zhang, PhD

Professor

Research Areas: Biomedical informatics, Human-centered computing, Medical errors

 

Updated: 07/02/2025