Jiajie Zhang, PhD, the Dr. Doris L. Ross Professor at The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston, will be appointed dean of the school effective March 1.
George M. Stancel, PhD, executive vice president for academic and research affairs, said, “Not only has Dr. Zhang had a major impact within the School of Biomedical Informatics, but he has also contributed significantly to the other UTHealth schools, the UT System and national programs in the broad area of informatics. His own work has brought recognition to UTHealth and the School of Biomedical Informatics in the informatics community, and I am looking forward to working with him in his role as dean.”
Zhang became a member of the UTHealth faculty in 1998 and served as the associate dean for research at the School of Biomedical Informatics from 2002 to 2012. As a scientist, he has spent the past two decades conducting research in biomedical informatics, cognitive science, human-centered computing, medical decision making and information visualization. He is the principal investigator and director of the National Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Health care and a 2002 recipient of the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award.
Students, it is time to nominate outstanding SBMI professors for the 2013 John P. McGovern Award for Outstanding Teaching! Submit your nominations in writing and describe how the faculty member demonstrates excellence in each of the following areas:
Knowledge of the subject and competency in area of expertise, i.e., basic sciences or clinical
Interest/enthusiasm in teaching
Interest in student success and understanding of the students
Responsiveness to student questions and encouragement of independent thinking
Accessibility to students
Nominations should be returned to Jaime Hargrave, SBMI’s Director of Student Affairs, no later than Friday, March 8. All eligible nominees, with their supporting nomination information, will then be distributed to the entire student body for a final vote.
Please note that all SBMI faculty are eligible for this award with the exception of the last year’s outstanding professor—Julie Brixey, PhD.
Graduation is right around the corner! Students will now apply for graduation through their MyUTH accounts rather than completing a form to submit to the registrar. Students planning to graduate in Spring 2013 need to apply for graduation by Friday, March 15. Once you have completed your application for graduation, you must send a screenshot of the “submit confirmation” page to Carolyn Elliot. Please review the links below, which include instructions and slides that explain the new process to apply for graduation. An example of the “submit confirmation” page is included in the slides (#5).
Students, faculty and guests to SBMI’s 2013 graduation make note of these important dates and find out everything you need to know about the big event on SBMI’s graduation page!
Final electronic copy of the state of the science or dissertations due to OAA
Original signed cover sheet(s) for state of the science or dissertations due to OAA
May 6-10
Final Exams
May 7
Graduation dress rehearsal
May 8
Graduation
TMC Library Offers Research Guides, Tours
Are you a new faculty, student or staff to the Texas Medical Center? Do you need information on how to use the TMC Library? The TMC library staff has developed a series of research guides to help you find what you need.Visit the welcome research guide to watch a brief introductory video on how to access the library resources, take a virtual tour of the library and find information about the location and parking.
The Committee on the Status of Women will collect new and gently used clothing from February 11-22 to support teen patients at the UT Harris County Psychiatric Center (HCPC). Efforts will be focused on the needs of teenagers, but all donations will be accepted and appreciated.
Items needed include:
New underclothes and socks
New and used modest & age appropriate clothes: t-shirts, jeans, pants, sweatshirts and jackets
Shoes: tennis shoes and school-appropriate shoes
Personal hygiene items: shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush and deodorant.
Dean Sittig, Ph.D., UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics professor, received a Book of the Year Award from The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Sittig was recognized for co-authoring a book titled “Improving Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: An Implementer's Guide, Second Edition.” The HIMSS Awards Program recognizes lifetime achievement, scholarship programs, activities or publications with honors going to individuals, groups and organizations for significant contributions to the society, their organizations or to the health IT profession. HIMSS will honor all 2012 award and scholarship winners at the HIMSS13 Awards Banquet on March 5, 2013 in New Orleans.
New Grants: SBMI Alumnus & Faculty Receive $3.9M NIH Grant
SBMI alumnus and adjunct associate professor Muhammad Walji, PhD, and his team received a $3.9 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to fund a dental 'adverse-event' database. SBMI Dean Jiajie Zhang, PhD, and SBMI Associate Professor Amy Franklin, PhD, along with Walji’s colleagues at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine are leading a new project to better understand and document patient safety issues by mining millions of electronic dental patient records and building a database of such events that can be used to improve patient safety.
Please join us in welcoming two new staff members to SBMI!
Ryan Bien has accepted the position of Associate Dean for Management for SBMI, starting on February 16. Bien has 14 years of experience at UTHealth, serving the past seven years as the Director of Finance for the Executive Vice President for Academic and Research Affairs. Prior to joining UTHealth, he worked in hospital/clinic administration, managed care contracting and physician recruitment. Bien has a Bachelor of Arts in government from UT- Austin and a Master of Healthcare Administration from Trinity University. Nancy McNiel and Claire Brunson have helped us tremendously on an interim basis for the past half year and will stay in their current roles a while longer to facilitate the transition.
Christina Cowperthwait started as the new Executive Assistant for the dean’s office on February 11 and is the new face of SBMI, ready to greet visitors to the school. She will also be supporting faculty and fulfilling administrative duties for the dean’s office. Cowperthwait comes to SBMI from The Baylor College of Medicine’s Internal Audit department and received a Bachelor of Science in Hotel & Restaurant Management from The University of Houston.
Upcoming Events
Save the Date
SBMI 2012-2013 Graduation
Wednesday, May 8 at 4 pm
IMM Beth Robertson Auditorium
Speaker: Kevin M. Fickenscher, MD, CPE, FACPE, FAAFP
American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) President & CEO Event information
HIMSS 13 Conference
March 3-7,
Ernest Morial Convention Center, New Orleans Event information
HIMSS Houston presentation & lunch
Friday, Feb. 22, 11 am-12:30 pm
MD Anderson (Pickens Tower Video Conference Rm.)
Why once and done analytics are inadequate for ICD-10 transition Event information
Feb 18 Second installment payment due
Mar 1 Last day to drop courses & receive grade of 'WP' or 'WF' (may impact GPA)
Mar 11-15 Spring Break
Mar 25 Final installment payment due
Knowledge of the subject and competency in area of expertise, i.e., basic sciences or clinical
Dean Sittig, Ph.D., UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics professor, received a Book of the Year Award from The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
SBMI alumnus and adjunct associate professor Muhammad Walji, PhD, and his team received a $3.9 million, five-year grant from the 
