Luncheon Speaker

Title

Can Biomedical Informatics Save Your Life?

Abstract

Advances in biomedical science and technology are trumpeted in our daily headlines, yet the process from discovery to widespread adoption of proven advances still takes far too long, proven advances are uneven in their acceptance, and some advances are adopted prematurely. Biomedical informatics (BMI) is establishing itself as one of the essential underpinnings of this progress. New academic programs in BMI such as we have established at Arizona State University seek to infuse an informatics "way of thinking" into all aspects of biomedical research, health care delivery, and public health, to create true systems out of non-systems, and to enable large-scale collaboration. This talk will highlight the unique approaches being pursued in BMI to achieve these goals.

Biography

Robert A. Greenes, MD, PhD, joined Arizona State University as Ira A. Fulton Chair and Professor of Biomedical Informatics, in September, 2007. Dr. Greenes brings skills and experience in organizing and developing research and educational initiatives that involve collaboration among multiple parties. For over 25 years, he directed the Decision Systems Group, a Harvard-based biomedical informatics research and development laboratory at the Brigham and Women�s Hospital that he founded, and which is widely recognized for its work in data mining and knowledge discovery, knowledge management, decision support, natural language processing, and education, with applications in biomedical research, clinical systems, image-based systems, consumer health, and public health systems. For over 20 years, Dr. Greenes was the Program Director of the Boston Research Training Program in Biomedical Informatics, based at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. With M.D. and Ph.D. in applied mathematics/computer science from Harvard, Dr. Greenes is Board Certified in Diagnostic Radiology. While at Harvard, Dr. Greenes had the positions of Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Informatics at Brigham and Women�s Hospital, Professor of Radiology and Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Greenes is author/editor of a new book entitled "Clinical Decision Support: the Road Ahead", from Elsevier and is author of over 250 publications in biomedical informatics. He serves on a number of editorial boards and is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (also its past President), the American College of Radiology, and the Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine.