Informatics Nerd

For those who are not familiar with the NHGRI sponsored Electronic Medical Records and Genomics ( eMERGE ) network, the first 4-year phase is drawing to a close.  One of the results from this network, as shown in multiple publications and reports, is the feasibility of using longitudinal data in the EHR for genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and draws out some of the imperfections in those data.  That's probably not unexpected, since we know EHRs have room to improve, and really provides results for EHR developers to learn from history and to plan for the future. As phase 1 draws to its conclusion, phase 2 will soon begin.  One of the goals as per the RFA of eMERGE II is to evaluate how to incorporate genetic test results into the EHR.  While there are invariably many ELSI and organizational issues related to this, it also begs an informatics question: how to best enter and display this type of information in the EHR?  Traditionally (or perhaps just from my simplified view

It's an informatician and programmer's dream contest!  The NLM is sponsoring a competition to develop an application of some sort which utilizes publicly accessible NLM data (either through an API or data set).  More information is at:  http://challenge.gov/NIH/132-nlm-show-off-your-apps-innovative-uses-of-nlm-information Submissions are due August 31, so I know I'm going to need to get busy to come up with some ideas.  If anyone is looking to collaborate on a submission, please feel free to get in touch as well.

While on vacation this week, I was getting caught up on some articles and reports I had found at the The National Academies Press .  I was reading an excellent report from the National Research Council entitled " Computational Technology for Effective Health Care: Immediate Steps and Strategic Directions ".  Even if you are short on time, I would highly recommend reading the Summary alone.  This report identifies some very relevant and addressable issues with HIT, and lays a short-term and long-term vision for how this can be improved by informaticians and system developers (calling specifically to the fields of computer science and biomedical informatics).  While those involved with this report are undoubtedly recognized within the field, they also conducted 8 site visits in order to supplement their existing knowledge. One of the comments that stuck out for me was the need to improve "cognitive support for health care providers and for patients and family caregiver

I'll admit, it's been a bit since I've stopped out at the AMIA website .  I was pleasantly surprised by the overhaul they did of the site!  It's very sleek, well-organized and I like how they tied together the various, related resources at the top.  If you haven't been out there in awhile, stop by and check it out.

So how did the "Informatics Nerd" come to be? I am a computer programmer with almost 10 years experience in the realm of healthcare.  About half of that time was spent developing electronic medical record software, and since then it has been spent working to help clinical and genomics researchers.  While working with biomedical informatics researchers for the past 5 years, and even before then (before I even knew what biomedical informatics was all about) I found myself unable to get enough knowledge about how technology can help those clinicians and researchers working to make the world a better place.  I realized that in addition to being a general computer nerd (as I am very passionate about technology, which you will undoubtedly see focused here as well), I was also essentially a nerd about informatics.  My idea of a fun time is going to an informatics conference, attending every possible session/talk/workgroup that I can, then going back and trying out new things and