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Overview

The Division of Clinical Informatics, created over 30 years ago by Drs. Howard Bleich and Warner Slack, was among the first academic divisions in the world to concentrate on the use of computers for patient care, teaching, and medical research.

The goals of the Division have been to improve the quality and reduce the cost of medical care, to enhance the quality of medical education, to improve the relationship between doctor and patient, and to explore innovative approaches to research through computing.

Beginning in 1976 the faculty and staff of the Division designed, developed, implemented and studied hospital-wide, integrated computing systems for doctors, other clinicians, and students that would give the results of diagnostic studies immediately upon request; offer access to the biomedical literature with PaperChase (the first program of its kind, which in turn gave rise to a new field of literature searching and spawned numerous derivative programs); offer advice, consultation, alerts and reminders; assist with communication by electronic mail (with the Division's home-grown system, which was the first e-mail to be installed in a clinical facility); assist with order entry; and assist in the day-to-day practice of medicine, both for inpatient and ambulatory care.

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Division Faculty Interviewed on Earth & Sky radio show

Dr. James Cartreine was interviewed about his research, developing a computer-based depression treatment for astronauts on long space missions. Click here to listen to the interview. <More...>

Division Faculty Accepts Position at General Electric

Dr. Meghan Dierks has accepted a position as a Physician Executive at General Electric's Healthcare Division. In her new role, she will be responsible for leading the risk assessment and patient safety processes, reviewing clinical risk as it relates to patient safety from interaction with Device/Healthcare IT products, and provide clinical input to Risk Assessments, Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Health Severity assessments with the risk management process. Dr. Dierks will continue on the division's part-time faculty and will help to mentor fellows and PHD students.

Division Faculty Speak at MIT

Dr. Henry Feldman, Dr. Meghan Dierks and Dr. Stan Finkelstein spoke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology regarding a Stroke study being conducted between the United States and United Kingdom.

Division Faculty Featured For Work With Pet Therapy

Dr. Henry Feldman was featured in ACP Hospitalist magazine for his work with Caring Canines to bring pet therapy to BIDMC. The article can be seen here.
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Division Faculty gives Keynote at Informatics Conference

James Cartreine, PhD, delivered a keynote address at the Health Informatics New Zealand 2009 conference. He spoke about his research developing behavioral informatics programs for NASA. Dr. Cartreine was also interviewed by New Zealand television news about his research, which can be seen here.
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Division Faculty Appointed APA Distinguished Life Fellow

Steven Locke, MD, HST Affiliated Faculty member and Technology and Course Director for HST921, was appointed a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association at its 2009 Annual Meeting. Distinguished Fellowship is awarded to outstanding psychiatrists who have made significant contributions to the psychiatric profession, and is the highest membership honor the APA bestows upon members.
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Division Chief Featured in New York Times Article

Division Chief Charles Safran, MD, is featured in an article in the New York Times titled "Health Care Industry Moves Slowly Onto the Internet".
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Division Faculty Gives Talk in Brighton, UK

Division Faculty Member Henry Feldman, MD, spoke to the Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre about the differences in care for strokes between the US and UK.
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Division Chief Featured in BusinessWeek Article

Division Chief Charles Safran, MD, is featured in an article in the BusinessWeek titled "Stopping Epidemics Before They Start".
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Division Faculty Demonstrates NASA Project to Congress

Dr. James Cartreine demonstrated his NASA system to members of Congress and their staffers on March 25, 2009. Dr. Cartreine, Dr. Locke, and others are developing The Virtual Space Station, a suite of interactive, multimedia programs to help astronauts prevent, assess and manage their own psychosocial problems on extended missions. The science demonstration was sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute to highlight medical advances in the U.S. space program.

Division Faculty Awarded Distinguished Scholar Award

James A. Cartreine, PhD, received a Distinguished Scholar Award at the 15th International Conference on Advances in Management, presented by the Center for Advanced Studies in Management, for his work on the development and evaluation of self-guided psychosocial interventions and trainings. <More...>

Division Faculty Awarded Grant

James A. Cartreine, PhD, recently was awarded a grant to develop and evaluate a self-guided, interactive media-based intervention to help astronauts manage ongoing conflicts onboard long-duration space flights. <More...>

Division Faculty Returns from Research Expedition in Nepal

James A. Cartreine, PhD, recently returned from a research expedition to the Mt. Everest base camp in Nepal. Dr. Cartreine spent 6 weeks studying psychological factors and team dynamics and their relationship to climb outcomes. <More...>

Division Physician Given National Award

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center psychiatrist Steven E. Locke, MD was awarded the "Ronnie Stangler" Award for Innovation by the American Association of Technology in Psychiatry (AATP), an affiliate of the American Psychiatric Association, at their annual meeting held in Washington DC on May 3rd, 2008. <More...>