Dean Zhang joins AHRQ National Advisory Council

UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics (SBMI) is proud to announce that Dean and the Glassell Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Informatics Excellence Jiajie Zhang, PhD was recently named a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

These council members, according to AHRQ, “represent health care plans, providers, purchasers, consumers, and researchers.” The NAC members also “contribute a varied perspective on the health care system and the most important questions that AHRQ's research should address in order to promote improvements in the quality, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of clinical practice.” AHRQ notes that NAC members provide “advice and recommendations to AHRQ's director and to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on priorities for a national health services research agenda.”

Zhang was the director of the National Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Healthcare. He also led the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (IT) Strategic Health IT Advanced Research project, which focused on enhancing patient-centered cognitive support in electronic health records and health IT (sharpc.org). Zhang has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on several AHRQ-funded projects on patient safety, decision making, and cognitive workflow in the context of health information technology. Starting his NAC appointment and serving the AHRQ in this new capacity is a proud distinction for Dean Zhang.

“Joining the National Advisory Council is a true honor and privilege,” says Zhang. “The NAC is full of healthcare research and quality subject-matter experts from across the country. Joining the council allows me to not only represent the informatics community, but I have the opportunity to make contributions to make healthcare safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable on a national platform.”

Dean Zhang, and the six additional new members, will convene with the entire council for the next meeting on Thurs., July 21. To see the list of new NAC members, visit the AHRQ website. The complete 21-member council roster is found here.