For this issue of Research Pulse, we highlight faculty from the Health Informatics (formerly Medical Informatics) Program in the School of Health Professions (SOHP)……. Drs. Faysel, Kaufman, Jumbo
What is Health/Medical Informatics?
Health Informatics is the intersection of health care, information science and computer science. All hospital systems rely on health informatics professionals to provide resources, devices and methods for acquisition, storage, retrieval of medical information in an optimal and streamlined manner. The recently revised MS in Health Informatics Program is designed to foster skills and knowledge in database systems, healthcare standards and interoperability, healthcare information system, health data analytics and visualization, human computer interaction, clinical internship and medical decision making. Students also complete an independent research project in health informatics.
What is Health/Medical Informatics?
Health Informatics is the intersection of health care, information science and computer science. All hospital systems rely on health informatics professionals to provide resources, devices and methods for acquisition, storage, retrieval of medical information in an optimal and streamlined manner. The recently revised MS in Health Informatics Program is designed to foster skills and knowledge in database systems, healthcare standards and interoperability, healthcare information system, health data analytics and visualization, human computer interaction, clinical internship and medical decision making. Students also complete an independent research project in health informatics.
MS students with faculty on Graduation Day 2022
“Find ways to exercise your skills and knowledge so that they can advance your career and contribute to your place of work. Consider learning a lifelong endeavor and see your degree in Health Informatics as a starting point”
Faculty
Dr. Mohammad Faysel, Associate Professor and Chair of the Health Informatics Department in SOHP, grew up in Bangladesh. He attended City University of New York (CUNY) where he completed a BS and MS degree and went on to obtain a PhD in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. His research interests include clinical research informatics, especially using large-scale EMR data and telehealth for patient engagement to reduce health disparities in underserved populations. After becoming a faculty, he realized that there was a lack of uniformity in the health informatics curricula taught at various academic institutions. He identified an urgent need for properly designed informatics education programs to train next generation of informaticians and is now heavily vested in informatics workforce development. He serves on the Health Information Accreditation Council of The Commission on the Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM).
Dr. David Kaufman, Clinical Associate Professor, grew up in Montreal, Canada and completed his education at McGill University, Canada. He got his Doctorate in Educational Psychology, focusing on medicine and medical education in Dr. Vimla Patel’s group. She was a pioneer in the study of medical cognition, introducing methods and theories to the study of clinical reasoning. His research focus shifted as health information technology (HIT) became increasingly ubiquitous in hospitals and the practice of medicine. His current research is focused on human-computer interaction and human factors in medicine and seeks to apply the same methods and theories to new classes of problems, such as COVID.
Dr. Mohammad Faysel, Associate Professor and Chair of the Health Informatics Department in SOHP, grew up in Bangladesh. He attended City University of New York (CUNY) where he completed a BS and MS degree and went on to obtain a PhD in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. His research interests include clinical research informatics, especially using large-scale EMR data and telehealth for patient engagement to reduce health disparities in underserved populations. After becoming a faculty, he realized that there was a lack of uniformity in the health informatics curricula taught at various academic institutions. He identified an urgent need for properly designed informatics education programs to train next generation of informaticians and is now heavily vested in informatics workforce development. He serves on the Health Information Accreditation Council of The Commission on the Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM).
Dr. David Kaufman, Clinical Associate Professor, grew up in Montreal, Canada and completed his education at McGill University, Canada. He got his Doctorate in Educational Psychology, focusing on medicine and medical education in Dr. Vimla Patel’s group. She was a pioneer in the study of medical cognition, introducing methods and theories to the study of clinical reasoning. His research focus shifted as health information technology (HIT) became increasingly ubiquitous in hospitals and the practice of medicine. His current research is focused on human-computer interaction and human factors in medicine and seeks to apply the same methods and theories to new classes of problems, such as COVID.
Dr. Adiebonye Jumbo joined the School of Health Professions as Assistant Professor. Dr. Jumbo earned her bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems from Lehman College, Master's in Medical Informatics from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, and a PhD in Biomedical Informatics from Rutgers University and completed a Clinical Epidemiology and Health Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Her research interests focus on developing effective informatics solutions for patient disease prevention and management in addressing social factors such as social cohesion, social capital, social networks, social support, social determinants of health in the underserved populations facing stroke conditions. She also collaborates with Downstate investigators from College of Medicine and School of Public Health on several research projects related to stroke, social determinants of health issues, and health disparities.
Dr. Mohammad Faysel Dr. David Kaufman Dr. Adiebonye Jumbo
“Due to advancement in technology-oriented health care delivery and wide adoption of electronic medical record systems, we are generating huge amount of data that are mostly captured and stored in secure databases without being explored further. This data can be mined to unearth useful knowledge to improve patient-care and healthcare delivery”
Why Health Informatics?
“Healthcare has many intellectual challenges for practitioners, patients and biomedical scientists. Technology offers great promise but also poses enormous challenges”, says Dr. Kaufman. The introduction of HIT substantially changes workflow with both positive and negative consequences. He believes in technology as part of the solution to improve healthcare. However, the current state of technology is not optimally tuned to the practice of medicine. There continue to be significant obstacles but also opportunities to fashion solutions that can make a difference. Dr. Faysel adds “Due to advancement in technology-oriented health care delivery and wide adoption of electronic medical record systems, we are generating huge amount of data that are mostly captured and stored in secure databases without being explored further. This data can be mined to unearth useful knowledge to improve patientcare and healthcare delivery”. Technology and data-driven approaches will play a critical role in furthering quality improvement in clinical care and eventually impacting timely delivery of much needed healthcare services.
Challenges and thoughts for the next generation
Access to complete data sets is the biggest challenge in Dr. Faysel’s opinion. Generally, large scale health data does not include information such as patient’s lifestyle, cultural and environmental factors, literacy level, and other social determinants of health that has the potential to pinpoint disparities in the treatment outcomes, limiting the scope of his research questions. Another challenge, as is true with all research fields, is securing funding, identifies Dr. Kaufman. In today’s competitive space, approximately 5% of submitted proposals are funded. Researchers must craft meticulous proposals that are well conceptualized and address problems of importance, staying relevant in a rapidly changing field.
Health Informatics is an exciting field that provides opportunities to innovate and contribute towards the improvement of healthcare delivery. Exponential increase in the use of mobile devices has broadened the spectrum of opportunities to develop unique tele-health solutions to reach underserved population and engage them in the care process. “Find ways to exercise your skills and knowledge so that they can advance your career and contribute to your place of work. Consider learning a lifelong endeavor and see your degree in Health Informatics as a starting point” says Dr. Kaufman. Dr. Faysel agrees and adds that “To pursue advance training in informatics research, find an institution that has a track record of well-established research support and knowledgeable mentors/advisors willing to spend time to guide you throughout your training, like Downstate Health Sciences University”.
Health Informatics is an exciting field that provides opportunities to innovate and contribute towards the improvement of healthcare delivery. Exponential increase in the use of mobile devices has broadened the spectrum of opportunities to develop unique tele-health solutions to reach underserved population and engage them in the care process. “Find ways to exercise your skills and knowledge so that they can advance your career and contribute to your place of work. Consider learning a lifelong endeavor and see your degree in Health Informatics as a starting point” says Dr. Kaufman. Dr. Faysel agrees and adds that “To pursue advance training in informatics research, find an institution that has a track record of well-established research support and knowledgeable mentors/advisors willing to spend time to guide you throughout your training, like Downstate Health Sciences University”.