Biography
Dr. Jiajie Zhang is dean, professor, and The Glassell Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Informatics Excellence at D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston. In addition, he is a professor at the MD Anderson Cancer Center-UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Zhang has more than 30 years of research, education, application, and management experience in biomedical informatics, cognitive science, human technology integration, information visualization, usability and workflow, decision making, and machine learning. He has conducted pioneering research on distributed knowledge representations and their effects on decision making, problem solving, and human-computer interaction, and was early to recognize the importance of usability, design, and cognitive support in health information technology. In continuing that work at UTHealth Houston, Zhang led the $15M SHARPC Project arm of the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) Program, a seminal consortium funded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to support innovative research addressing well-documented problems that impeded the adoption and use of health IT. The SHARPC Project focused on enhancing patient-centered cognitive support in EHR and health information technology, and resulted in the creation of the National Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Healthcare.
Zhang has authored over 200 publications; has been the PI, Co-PI, or Co-I on numerous grants and contracts (Total cumulative funding: $242M [including $39M as Contact PI and $112M as MPI/Co-PI]); and has trained many PhD and MS students, as well as postdoctoral fellows. He was the recipient of a John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award and a President’s Award for Leadership from UTHealth Houston. He was awarded the President George H.W. Bush Award by the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association. Moreover, Zhang is an elected Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Also, Zhang is a member of the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Chair-elect of the AMIA Biomedical and Health Informatics Academic Leaders Community.
Since his formal appointment as dean of McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston in March of 2013, Zhang has led the rapid growth of the school—tripling faculty and student numbers, as well as research expenditures—through targeted faculty and student recruitment efforts; reshaping academic foci, programs, and curricula; developing tactical partnerships; and building the school’s research capacity and scope. In addition, he helped obtain support for the school’s facilities expansion and directed a major effort to bolster philanthropic funding; most recently, he helped secure a transformational gift that named the school. Under Zhang’s leadership, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston has become a national/international leader in biomedical informatics, health data science, and Medical AI.
Education
- PhD, Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego
- MS, Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego
- BS, Biology, University of Science & Technology of China (Special Class for Gifted Young)
Research Interests
- Human Technology Integration
- Usability and Workflow
- Cognitive Science
- Information Visualization
- Decision Making
- Machine Learning
Honors
- 2002, John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award, UTHealth Houston
- 2002, Recognition of Outstanding Leadership as Chair of Faculty Governance Organization, School of Health Information Sciences, UTHealth Houston
- 2003, Elected Fellow, American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI)
- 2006, Dr. Doris L. Ross Endowed Professorship
- 2015, President George H. W. Bush Award, Asian Pacific American Heritage Association (APAHA)
- 2015, Glassell Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Informatics Excellence
- 2019, Elected Fellow, American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)
- 2020, Elected Fellow, International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI)
- 2023, Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- 2023, President’s Award for Leadership, UTHealth Houston
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Research Areas
Jiajie Zhang’s research has spanned many areas in biomedical informatics, cognitive science, human technology integration, decision making, machine learning, and visualization. His specific research contributions are in the areas of distributed knowledge representation, usability and workflow, medical error and patient safety, and decision making. He has authored 180+ publications. He has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous grants and contracts ($35 million as PI; $100 million as PI/Co-PI) from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), NASA, Office of Naval Research, U.S. Army, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the State of Texas and other funding agencies, including as PI a $15 million award for the National Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Healthcare under ONC’s Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects program (SHARP) for Patient-Centered Cognitive Support.
Representative Publications
1. Zhang, J., & Norman, D. A. (1994). Representations in distributed cognitive tasks. Cognitive Science, 18, 87-122.
2. Zhang, J. (1997). The nature of external representations in problem solving. Cognitive Science, 21, 179-217.
3. Middleton, B., Bloomrosen, M., Dente, M. A., Hasmat, B., Koppel, R., Overhage, J. M., Payne, T. H., Rosenbloom, S. T., Weaver, C., & Zhang, J. (2012). Enhancing patient safety and quality of care by improving the usability of electronic health record systems: recommendations from AMIA. Journal of American Medical Informatics Association doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2012-001458.
4. Zhang, J., & Walji, M. (2011). TURF: Toward a unified framework of EHR usability. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 44 (6), 1056-1067.
5. Zhang, J., Johnson, T. R., Patel, V. L., Paige, D., & Kubose, T. (2003). Using usability heuristics to evaluate patient safety of medical devices. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 36 (1-2), 23-30.
For complete list of publications, please see Google Scholar.
Grants (selected)
1 U54 TR002804-0
NIH/NCATS
Title: Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS)
Goal: Establish a center for clinical and translational sciences (3rd cycle)
Role: Co-PI |
McPherson/Karp |
07/01/2019 - 6/30/2024
$37,290,116
|
UL1 TR000371
NIH/NCATS
Title: Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS)
Goal: Establish a center for clinical and translational sciences (2nd cycle)
Role: Co-PI |
McPherson/Karp |
07/01/2012 - 5/31/2019
$19,806,104 |
|
R01 HS021236
AHRQ
Title: Opportunistic Decision Making Information Needs and Workflow in Emergency Care
Goal: Study information needs for ER clinicians and develop visualization tools to support opportunistic decision making
Role: PI
|
Zhang/Franklin |
09/01/2012 - 08/31/2016
$1,942,271 |
ONC 10510592
Office of National Coordinator for Health IT
Title: National Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Healthcare
Goal: To establish a National Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Healthcare (NCCD) to lead national effort on EHR usability, workflow, and cognitive support in Health Information Technology (HIT) adoption and meaningful use. This project is called SHARPC as one of the four ONC SHARP programs.
Role: PI |
Zhang |
04/01/2010 - 11/30/2014
$15,000,000 |
ONC REC
Office of National Coordinator for Health IT
Title: Gulf Coast Regional Extension Center for Health IT
Goal: Support the recruitment of primary care physicians to adopt EHR and meaningful use in the Texas Gulf Coast Region.
Role: PI |
Smith/Dunn/Zhang |
04/01/2010 - 05/31/2015
$15,274,321 |
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