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Dean Sittig, PhD

Professor


Department of Clinical and Health Informatics


Contact

[email protected] | 713-500-3944 ext. 7977



Dean F. Sittig, PhD, is a professor at UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics (SBMI). Additionally, Sittig is the Executive Director of the Clinical Informatics Research Collaborative, a group of academic applied clinical informatics researchers committed to improving our understanding of issues involved in the design, development, implementation, use and evaluation of all aspects of health information technology with a particular emphasis on EHRs.

Sittig's research interests center on the design, development, implementation and evaluation of all aspects of clinical information systems (CIS), specifically measuring the impact of CIS on a large scale and improving understanding of both the factors that lead to the success of CIS as well as the unintended consequences associated with computer-based clinical decision support and provider order entry systems. He is particularly interested in ensuring the safe and effective use of technology in the clinical setting, using advanced clinical decision support interventions to improve the quality of care and patient safety while reducing the costs of healthcare and designing and developing the clinical knowledge required to create these advanced clinical decision support interventions.

In 1992, he was elected as a fellow in The American College of Medical Informatics, in 2009, he won the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award as voted by the SBMI student body, and in 2017 he was elected as a founding fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics. Sittig has co-authored an extensive collection of books and has won the Health Information Management and Systems Society Book of the Year Award thrice.

Education


  • PhD, 1988, Medical Informatics, University of Utah
  • MS, 1984, Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University
  • BS, 1982, Science, The Pennsylvania State University

Areas of Expertise


Clinical Information Systems (CISs)

  • Design of new features and functions within CISs
  • Development of new features and functions within CISs
  • Implementation methods and strategies for CISs
  • Evaluation and monitoring of existing CISs implementations

Staff Support


Martha Shumaker | 713-500-7620

Recent Publications


Publications

  1. Morris AH, Horvat C, Stagg B, Grainger DW, Lanspa M, Orme J, Clemmer TP, Weaver LK, Thomas FO, Grissom CK, Hirshberg E, East TD, Wallace CJ, Young MP, Sittig DF, Suchyta M, Pearl JE, Pesenti A, Bombino M, Beck E, Sward KA, Weir C, Phansalkar S, Bernard GR, Thompson BT, Brower R, Truwit J, Steingrub J, Hiten RD, Willson DF, Zimmerman JJ, Nadkarni V, Randolph AG, Curley MAQ, Newth CJL, Lacroix J, Agus MSD, Lee KH, deBoisblanc BP, Moore FA, Evans RS, Sorenson DK, Wong A, Boland MV, Dere WH, Crandall A, Facelli J, Huff SM, Haug PJ, Pielmeier U, Rees SE, Karbing DS, Andreassen S, Fan E, Goldring RM, Berger KI, Oppenheimer BW, Ely EW, Pickering BW, Schoenfeld DA, Tocino I, Gonnering RS, Pronovost PJ, Savitz LA, Dreyfuss D, Slutsky AS, Crapo JD, Pinsky MR, James B, Berwick DM. Computer clinical decision support that automates personalized clinical care: a challenging but needed healthcare delivery strategy. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2022 Dec 13;30(1):178-194. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocac143. PubMed PMID: 36125018; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9748596.
  2. Jing X, Indani A, Hubig N, Min H, Gong Y, Cimino JJ, Sittig DF, Rennert L, Robinson D, Biondich P, Wright A, Nøhr C, Law T, Faxvaag A, Gimbel R. A Systematic Approach to Configuring MetaMap for Optimal Performance. Methods Inf Med. 2022 Dec;61(S 02):e51-e63. doi: 10.1055/a-1862-0421. Epub 2022 May 25. PubMed PMID: 35613942; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9788913.
  3. Sittig DF, Sherman JD, Eckelman MJ, Draper A, Singh H. i-CLIMATE: a "clinical climate informatics" action framework to reduce environmental pollution from healthcare. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2022 Nov 14;29(12):2153-2160. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocac137. PubMed PMID: 35997550; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9667163.
  4. Wright A, Nelson S, Rubins D, Schreiber R, Sittig DF. Clinical decision support malfunctions related to medication routes: a case series. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2022 Oct 7;29(11):1972-1975. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocac150. PubMed PMID: 36040207; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9552204.
  5. Cram P, Cram E, Antos J, Sittig DF, Anand A, Li Y. Changes in Availability of and Prices for Shoppable Services at US News and World Report Honor Roll Hospitals: a Longitudinal Cross-Sectional Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2022 Jul 5;. doi: 10.1007/s11606-022-07719-7. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 35790664.
  6. Zimolzak AJ, Singh H, Murphy DR, Wei L, Memon SA, Upadhyay DK, Korukonda S, Zubkoff L, Sittig DF. Translating electronic health record-based patient safety algorithms from research to clinical practice at multiple sites. BMJ Health Care Inform. 2022 Jul;29(1). doi: 10.1136/bmjhci-2022-100565. PubMed PMID: 35851287; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9289019.
  7. Dullabh P, Sandberg SF, Heaney-Huls K, Hovey LS, Lobach DF, Boxwala A, Desai PJ, Berliner E, Dymek C, Harrison MI, Swiger J, Sittig DF. Challenges and opportunities for advancing patient-centered clinical decision support: findings from a horizon scan. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2022 Jun 14;29(7):1233-1243. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocac059. PubMed PMID: 35534996; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9196686.
  8. Dullabh P, Heaney-Huls K, Hovey L, Sandberg S, Lobach DF, Boxwala A, Desai P, Sittig DF. The Technology Landscape of Patient-Centered Clinical Decision Support - Where Are We and What Is Needed?. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2022 Jun 6;290:350-353. doi: 10.3233/SHTI220094. Review. PubMed PMID: 35673033.
  9. Dullabh P, Heaney-Huls K, Lobach DF, Hovey LS, Sandberg SF, Desai PJ, Lomotan E, Swiger J, Harrison MI, Dymek C, Sittig DF, Boxwala A. The technical landscape for patient-centered CDS: progress, gaps, and challenges. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2022 May 11;29(6):1101-1105. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocac029. PubMed PMID: 35263437; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9093031.
  10. Cifra CL, Tigges CR, Miller SL, Curl N, Monson CD, Dukes KC, Reisinger HS, Pennathur PR, Sittig DF, Singh H. Reporting Outcomes of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Patients to Referring Physicians via an Electronic Health Record-Based Feedback System. Appl Clin Inform. 2022 Mar;13(2):495-503. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1748147. Epub 2022 May 11. PubMed PMID: 35545126; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9095343.
  11. Sittig DF, Lakhani P, Singh H. Applying requisite imagination to safeguard electronic health record transitions. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2022 Apr 13;29(5):1014-1018. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocab291. PubMed PMID: 35022741; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9006683.
  12. Sittig DF, Petersen C, Downs SM, Lehmann JS, Lehmann CU. Thank You for a Successful 2021!. Appl Clin Inform. 2022 Jan;13(1):304-314. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1744385. Epub 2022 Mar 9. PubMed PMID: 35263801; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8906992
  13. Keebler JR, Rosen MA, Sittig DF, Thomas E, Salas E. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare: Industry Demands and a Path Forward. Hum Factors. 2022 Feb;64(1):250-258. doi: 10.1177/00187208211073623. Epub 2022 Jan 8. Review. PubMed PMID: 35000407.
  14. Keebler JR, Salas E, Rosen MA, Sittig DF, Thomas E. Preface: Special Issue on Human Factors in Healthcare. Hum Factors. 2022 Feb;64(1):5. doi: 10.1177/00187208211073577. Epub 2022 Jan 5. PubMed PMID: 34986657.
  15. El-Kareh R, Sittig DF. Enhancing Diagnosis Through Technology: Decision Support, Artificial Intelligence, and Beyond. Crit Care Clin. 2022 Jan;38(1):129-139. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2021.08.004. Review. PubMed PMID: 34794627; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8608279.
  16. Mahajan P, Mollen C, Alpern ER, Baird-Cox K, Boothman RC, Chamberlain JM, Cosby K, Epstein HM, Gegenheimer-Holmes J, Gerardi M, Giardina TD, Patel VL, Ruddy R, Saleem J, Shaw KN, Sittig DF, Singh H. An Operational Framework to Study Diagnostic Errors in Emergency Departments: Findings From A Consensus Panel. J Patient Saf. 2021 Dec 1;17(8):570-575. doi: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000000624. PubMed PMID: 31790012.
  17. Cram P, Cram E, Antos J, Sittig DF, Anand A, Li Y. Availability of prices for shoppable services on hospital internet sites. Am J Manag Care. 2021 Dec 1;27(12):e426-e428. doi: 10.37765/ajmc.2021.88690. PubMed PMID: 34889585.
  18. Sittig DF, Singh H. Policies to Promote Shared Responsibility for Safer Electronic Health Records. JAMA. 2021 Oct 19;326(15):1477-1478. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.13945. PubMed PMID: 34505867.
  19. Murphy DR, Savoy A, Satterly T, Sittig DF, Singh H. Dashboards for visual display of patient safety data: a systematic review. BMJ Health Care Inform. 2021 Oct;28(1). doi: 10.1136/bmjhci-2021-100437. PubMed PMID: 34615664; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8496385.
  20. Vaghani V, Wei L, Mushtaq U, Sittig DF, Bradford A, Singh H. Validation of an electronic trigger to measure missed diagnosis of stroke in emergency departments. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 Sep 18;28(10):2202-2211. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocab121. PubMed PMID: 34279630; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8449630.
  21. D'Amore JD, McCrary LK, Denson J, Li C, Vitale CJ, Tokachichu P, Sittig DF, McCoy AB, Wright A. Clinical data sharing improves quality measurement and patient safety. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 Jul 14;28(7):1534-1542. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocab039. PubMed PMID: 33712850; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8279795.
  22. Cifra CL, Sittig DF, Singh H. Bridging the feedback gap: a sociotechnical approach to informing clinicians of patients' subsequent clinical course and outcomes. BMJ Qual Saf. 2021 Jul;30(7):591-597. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012464. Epub 2021 May 6. PubMed PMID: 33958442; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8237185.
  23. Morris AH, Stagg B, Lanspa M, Orme J, Clemmer TP, Weaver LK, Thomas F, Grissom CK, Hirshberg E, East TD, Wallace CJ, Young MP, Sittig DF, Pesenti A, Bombino M, Beck E, Sward KA, Weir C, Phansalkar SS, Bernard GR, Taylor Thompson B, Brower R, Truwit JD, Steingrub J, Duncan Hite R, Willson DF, Zimmerman JJ, Nadkarni VM, Randolph A, Curley MAQ, Newth CJL, Lacroix J, Agus MSD, Lee KH, deBoisblanc BP, Scott Evans R, Sorenson DK, Wong A, Boland MV, Grainger DW, Dere WH, Crandall AS, Facelli JC, Huff SM, Haug PJ, Pielmeier U, Rees SE, Karbing DS, Andreassen S, Fan E, Goldring RM, Berger KI, Oppenheimer BW, Wesley Ely E, Gajic O, Pickering B, Schoenfeld DA, Tocino I, Gonnering RS, Pronovost PJ, Savitz LA, Dreyfuss D, Slutsky AS, Crapo JD, Angus D, Pinsky MR, James B, Berwick D. Enabling a learning healthcare system with automated computer protocols that produce replicable and personalized clinician actions. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 Jun 12;28(6):1330-1344. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocaa294. PubMed PMID: 33594410; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8661391.
  24. Lehmann CU, Lehmann JS, Petersen C, Sittig DF. To Applied Clinical Informatics Authors and Reviewers: Thank You for All Your Help!. Appl Clin Inform. 2021 Mar;12(2):417-424. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1729958. Epub 2021 May 12. PubMed PMID: 33979875; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8116172.
  25. Petersen C, Smith J, Freimuth RR, Goodman KW, Jackson GP, Kannry J, Liu H, Madhavan S, Sittig DF, Wright A. Recommendations for the safe, effective use of adaptive CDS in the US healthcare system: an AMIA position paper. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 Mar 18;28(4):677-684. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocaa319. PubMed PMID: 33447854; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7973467.
  26. Wright A, Aaron S, McCoy AB, El-Kareh R, Fort D, Kassakian SZ, Longhurst CA, Malhotra S, McEvoy DS, Monsen CB, Schreiber R, Weitkamp AO, Willett DL, Sittig DF. . Appl Clin Inform. 2021 Jan;12(1):182-189. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1722918. Epub 2021 Mar 10. PubMed PMID: 33694144; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7946596.
  27. Singh H, Sittig DF, Gandhi TK. Fighting a common enemy: a catalyst to close intractable safety gaps. BMJ Qual Saf. 2021 Feb;30(2):141-145. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-011390. Epub 2020 Jul 16. Review. PubMed PMID: 32675326; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7841492.
  28. Tajgardoon M, Cooper GF, King AJ, Clermont G, Hochheiser H, Hauskrecht M, Sittig DF, Visweswaran S. Modeling physician variability to prioritize relevant medical record information. JAMIA Open. 2020 Dec;3(4):602-610. doi: 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaa058. eCollection 2020 Dec. PubMed PMID: 33623894; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7886572.
  29. Ash JS, Singh H, Wright A, Chase D, Sittig DF. . Health Informatics J. 2020 Dec;26(4):3140-3151. doi: 10.1177/1460458219833109. Epub 2019 Mar 8. PubMed PMID: 30848694.
  30. Rogith D, Satterly T, Singh H, Sittig DF, Russo E, Smith MW, Roosan D, Bhise V, Murphy DR. Application of Human Factors Methods to Understand Missed Follow-up of Abnormal Test Results. Appl Clin Inform. 2020 Oct;11(5):692-698. doi: 10.1055/s-0040-1716537. Epub 2020 Oct 21. PubMed PMID: 33086395; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7577780.
  31. Sittig DF, Ash JS, Wright A, Chase D, Gebhardt E, Russo EM, Tercek C, Mohan V, Singh H. How can we partner with electronic health record vendors on the complex journey to safer health care?. J Healthc Risk Manag. 2020 Oct;40(2):34-43. doi: 10.1002/jhrm.21434. Epub 2020 Jul 9. PubMed PMID: 32648286.
  32. Sittig DF, Singh H. . JAMA. 2020 Jun 16;323(23):2373-2374. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.7239. PubMed PMID: 32421178.
  33. Singh H, Sittig DF. A Sociotechnical Framework for Safety-Related Electronic Health Record Research Reporting: The SAFER Reporting Framework. Ann Intern Med. 2020 Jun 2;172(11 Suppl):S92-S100. doi: 10.7326/M19-0879. Review. PubMed PMID: 32479184.
  34. Powell L, Sittig DF, Chrouser K, Singh H. Assessment of Health Information Technology-Related Outpatient Diagnostic Delays in the US Veterans Affairs Health Care System: A Qualitative Study of Aggregated Root Cause Analysis Data. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jun 1;3(6):e206752. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.6752. PubMed PMID: 32584406; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7317596.
  35. King AJ, Cooper GF, Clermont G, Hochheiser H, Hauskrecht M, Sittig DF, Visweswaran S. Leveraging Eye Tracking to Prioritize Relevant Medical Record Data: Comparative Machine Learning Study. J Med Internet Res. 2020 Apr 2;22(4):e15876. doi: 10.2196/15876. PubMed PMID: 32238342; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7163414.
  36. McCoy AB, Sittig DF, Lin J, Wright A. Identification and Ranking of Biomedical Informatics Researcher Citation Statistics through a Google Scholar Scraper. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2019;2019:655-663. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 32308860; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7153158.
  37. Sittig DF, Wright A, Coiera E, Magrabi F, Ratwani R, Bates DW, Singh H. Current challenges in health information technology-related patient safety. Health Informatics J. 2020 Mar;26(1):181-189. doi: 10.1177/1460458218814893. Epub 2018 Dec 11. PubMed PMID: 30537881; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7510167.
  38. Brunner MC, Sheehan SE, Yanke EM, Sittig DF, Safdar N, Hill B, Lee KS, Orwin JF, Vanness DJ, Hildebrand CJ, Bruno MA, Erickson TJ, Zea R, Moberg DP. Joint Design with Providers of Clinical Decision Support for Value-Based Advanced Shoulder Imaging. Appl Clin Inform. 2020 Jan;11(1):142-152. doi: 10.1055/s-0040-1701256. Epub 2020 Feb 19. PubMed PMID: 32074651; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7030958.
  39. Sheehan SE, Safdar N, Singh H, Sittig DF, Bruno MA, Keller K, Kinnard S, Brunner MC. Detection and Remediation of Misidentification Errors in Radiology Examination Ordering. Appl Clin Inform. 2020 Jan;11(1):79-87. doi: 10.1055/s-0039-3402730. Epub 2020 Jan 29. PubMed PMID: 31995835; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6989264.
  40. Dullabh P, Hovey L, Heaney-Huls K, Rajendran N, Wright A, Sittig DF. Application Programming Interfaces in Health Care: Findings from a Current-State Sociotechnical Assessment. Appl Clin Inform. 2020 Jan;11(1):59-69. doi: 10.1055/s-0039-1701001. Epub 2020 Jan 22. PubMed PMID: 31968383; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6976305.
  41. King AJ, Cooper GF, Clermont G, Hochheiser H, Hauskrecht M, Sittig DF, Visweswaran S. Using machine learning to selectively highlight patient information. J Biomed Inform. 2019 Dec;100:103327. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2019.103327. Epub 2019 Oct 29. PubMed PMID: 31676461; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6932869.
  42. Murphy DR, Giardina TD, Satterly T, Sittig DF, Singh H. An Exploration of Barriers, Facilitators, and Suggestions for Improving Electronic Health Record Inbox-Related Usability: A Qualitative Analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Oct 2;2(10):e1912638. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12638. PubMed PMID: 31584683; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6784746.
  43. Wright A, McEvoy DS, Aaron S, McCoy AB, Amato MG, Kim H, Ai A, Cimino JJ, Desai BR, El-Kareh R, Galanter W, Longhurst CA, Malhotra S, Radecki RP, Samal L, Schreiber R, Shelov E, Sirajuddin AM, Sittig DF. Structured override reasons for drug-drug interaction alerts in electronic health records. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2019 Oct 1;26(10):934-942. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocz033. PubMed PMID: 31329891; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6748816.
  44. Murphy DR, Satterly T, Giardina TD, Sittig DF, Singh H. Practicing Clinicians' Recommendations to Reduce Burden from the Electronic Health Record Inbox: a Mixed-Methods Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Sep;34(9):1825-1832. doi: 10.1007/s11606-019-05112-5. Epub 2019 Jul 10. PubMed PMID: 31292905; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6712240.
  45. McCoy AB, Wright A, Sittig DF. Multi-Institutional, Large-Scale, International Applied Clinical Informatics Research Through the Clinical Informatics Research Collaborative (CIRCLE). Stud Health Technol Inform. 2019 Aug 21;264:1730-1731. doi: 10.3233/SHTI190619. PubMed PMID: 31438315.
  46. Dullabh P, Hovey L, Heaney-Huls K, Rajendran N, Wright A, Sittig DF. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) in Health Care: Findings from a Current-State Assessment. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2019 Aug 9;265:201-206. doi: 10.3233/SHTI190164. PubMed PMID: 31431599.
  47. Murphy DR, Satterly T, Rogith D, Sittig DF, Singh H. Barriers and facilitators impacting reliability of the electronic health record-facilitated total testing process. Int J Med Inform. 2019 Jul;127:102-108. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.04.004. Epub 2019 Apr 8. PubMed PMID: 31128821.
  48. Murphy DR, Meyer AN, Sittig DF, Meeks DW, Thomas EJ, Singh H. Application of electronic trigger tools to identify targets for improving diagnostic safety. BMJ Qual Saf. 2019 Feb;28(2):151-159. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2018-008086. Epub 2018 Oct 5. PubMed PMID: 30291180; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6365920.
  49. Gensheimer SG, Wu AW, Snyder CF. Oh, the Places We'll Go: Patient-Reported Outcomes and Electronic Health Records. Patient. 2018 Dec;11(6):591-598. doi: 10.1007/s40271-018-0321-9. PubMed PMID: 29968179.
  50. Wright A, Wright AP, Aaron S, Sittig DF. Smashing the strict hierarchy: three cases of clinical decision support malfunctions involving carvedilol. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2018 Nov 1;25(11):1552-1555. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocy091. PubMed PMID: 30060109; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6213087.

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