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| A Farewell Message from Kevin JohnsonChair of DBMI
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Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I sit here drafting this message amid nearly 20 years of memories from my time at Vanderbilt, while listening to James Taylor music. As I look around the office, I see how much I’ve grown, thanks to so many people.
On the wall, I have a number of plaques and certificates—opportunities for me to serve the country and world because of how much your thinking and actions have influenced my conceptual model of how informatics can improve the health and health care ecosystem.
In the files, I have the artifacts of recruitments (some successful, some not), research projects, VU/VUMC Committees that resulted in things like the migration to Epic, the creation of REDCap Mobile, but also the VU Strategic Plan and even our Centers. On the shelves, I have many heartfelt tokens of appreciation from all of you (and many more at home!). Mostly, as I clean out the office, I have fond memories of all the ways we’ve worked together for both personal and the greater good! I can’t begin to list all the remarkable ways we’ve impacted the local, regional, national and international landscape.
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However, I can tell you that it’s been my privilege to help you do it all. DBMI has become the model environment for conducting informatics research, thanks to our collaborative culture, incredibly talented staff, inquisitive trainees and wonderful physical environment. I can also share with you my profound gratitude for all you’ve done for me through collaborating on scientific and operational projects, nurturing my curiosity and supporting me through some major parts of my journey through life.
As that famous communicator, Dr. Seuss, reminds us, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” As I look around my office, and as I physically touch artifacts of our time together, I’m smiling, and I hope each of you do as well.
— Kevin Johnson, MD, MS, FAAP, FAMIA, FACMI, FIAHSI, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor & Chair of DBMI, Professor in Pediatrics, Informatician-in-Chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
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Trent Rosenbloom Named Interim Chair of DBMI
Dr. Rosenbloom is currently the Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs and a Professor of Biomedical Informatics with secondary appointments in Medicine, Pediatrics and the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University. A long-time member of the Vanderbilt community, Dr. Rosenbloom also directs the My Health at Vanderbilt patient portal, one of the oldest and best-used patient portals in the country.
Dr. Rosenbloom was born at Vanderbilt in what is now Medical Center North, and returned for Medical School, residency in Med Peds, and a fellowship in Biomedical Informatics. He joined the faculty in 2002, focusing his research on clinical documentation, decision support, and patient engaging technologies. Dr. Rosenbloom has published over 100 peer-reviewed studies, and been funded by grants through the National Institutes of Health, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institutes and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the American Medical Informatics Association, from which he also received the competitive New Investigator Award, and was invited to serve as a Fellow of AMIA and of its American College of Medical Informatics.
Dr. Rosenbloom also serves as a Faculty Affiliate Advisor for the School of Medicine’s Chapman Advisory College and is an Associate Director for the Vanderbilt Medical Innovators Development Program (MIDP), a four-year Ph.D. to MD training program tailored to engineers and applied scientists that teaches them to solve clinical problems by translating discoveries in engineering into valuable innovation.
Dr. Peter Embí will assume the position of Chair of Biomedical Informatics on January 1, 2022.
— Jeff Balser & Jennifer Pietenpol
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- Department News & Announcements
- Faculty News
- Educational Updates
- DBMI Spotlight: Elizabeth Brown
- MyVUMC
- Funding Opporunities
- HR Updates
- Open Positions + Upcoming Events
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| Department News & Announcements
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SPECIAL DBMI All-Hands Meeting, October 21 — Please Plan to Join
On Thursday, October 21 from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm CT, we will have a special DBMI All-Hands meeting. Please plan to attend. Registration required—info coming soon.
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Randy Miller & Adam Wright Receive Biomedical Informatics Awards of Excellence
Dr. Miller, who is Emeritus Professor of Biomedical Informatics in Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine, will receive the Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence in Medical Informatics, which is internationally recognized as the capstone award in the field.
This award is given annually by the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) to an individual whose personal commitment and dedication to medical informatics has made a lasting impression on the field. Dr. Miller is the third person within VUMC’s DBMI to receive the Morris F. Collen Award, following Bill Stead, MD, FACMI, FIAHSI, (2007) and Nancy Lorenzi, PhD, MLS, MA, FACMI, FIAHSI (2012).
Dr. Wright, Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Director of the Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC), will receive the Donald A.B. Lindberg Award for Innovation in Informatics, given annually to an individual for contributions that advance biomedical informatics on the national or international level. Previously, Drs. Stead, Miller and Paul Harris, PhD, FACMI, FIAHSI, Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Biomedical Engineering and Biostatistics, received the Lindberg Award.
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Martin Were, Patricia Sengstack & Bill Stead Honored by ACMI
Martin Were, MD, MS, FAMIA, FIAHSI, and Patricia Sengstack, DNP, RN-BC, FAAN, are two of 11 fellows who were elected to ACMI. Bill Stead, MD, FACMI, FIAHSI, is one of four senior Fellows who were named Distinguished Fellows of ACMI.
Dr. Were is Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine. Dr. Sengstack is Senior Associate Dean for Informatics in the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nursing Informatics Executive and Professor of biomedical informatics. Dr. Stead is McKesson Foundation Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Medicine Drs. Were, Sengstack and Stead will be honored during the 2021 AMIA Annual Symposium on October 30.
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Michael Matheny & Sharidan Parr Named Fellows of AMIA
Congratulations to Michael Matheny, MD, MS, MPH, and Sharidan Parr, MD, MSCI, MS, who are among a group of 92 fellows who were inducted into the 2022 Class of Fellows of the American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA)! The honorary program of AMIA members recognizes professional achievements in the application of information science to serve clinical teams and biomedical research. The fellows will be inducted at the AMIA 2022 Clinical Informatics Conference in Houston in May 2022.
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Women in AMIA Seeking Female Volunteer Mentors for "First Look Program" — Applications Due TODAY, October 15
The Women in AMIA Committee will be hosting undergraduate women with an interest in informatics and/or STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) to attend the 2021 AMIA Symposium “First Look” Program on October 31, 2021 in San Diego, CA. We are seeking female volunteer mentor guides. To learn more about the AMIA First Look Program and view the agenda, please visit: AMIA 2021 Annual Symposium First Look Program.
Mentor responsibilities include attending activities with mentees on Sunday between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm and introducing students to the AMIA community.
Please fill out this application form to serve as a mentor guide by TODAY, October 15. Volunteers will be notified about mentor/mentee matches by October 18. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Karmen Williams (KarmenSWilliams@gmail.com) or Dr. Allison McCoy (allison.b.mccoy@vumc.org).
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AMIA DBMI Get-Together — RSVP by October 22
If you’re attending AMIA 2021 in San Diego, we are hosting our annual DBMI Get-Together on Monday night for students, faculty, alumni, staff and families.
Please plan to join us on Monday, November 1 at Bay City Brewing from 6:30-8:30 pm. The restaurant is a short walk, about 15-20 minutes, from the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. We have reserved the “Rooftop” for outdoor seating. The venue will accommodate up to 75 people.
We realize everyone’s schedule is busy at AMIA but hope you will have a few minutes to come and have a drink, non-alcoholic and alcoholic, and appetizers with DBMI faculty, students, staff and alumni. If you know faculty, staff or alumni who may miss this notification, please share with them.
Looking forward to seeing everyone! — Kevin Johnson, Jessica Ancker and Trent Rosenbloom
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| Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC) Seminar: Vanderbilt Safecourse: Multidisciplinary Informatics to Prevent Suicide, Presented by Colin Walsh — October 27
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For VCLIC's October seminar, Colin Walsh, MD, MA, FAMIA, Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Medicine and Psychiatry, will discuss Vanderbilt SafeCourse: Multidisciplinary Informatics to Prevent Suicide. Dr. Walsh and his team have several completed and ongoing projects that focus on topics related to optimizing mental health care delivery through informatics and using artificial intelligence approaches to predict suicide risk at point-of-care.
Please join us on October 27th from 12:00-1:00 pm CT via Zoom.
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Lindsay Knake Welcomes New Arrival!
Congratulations to Lindsay Knake, MD, MS, recent graduate of the DBMI master's program, who recently welcomed her new bundle of joy!
Kylo Michael (8 lbs, 4 oz, 20 in.) was born on October 10.
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| Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
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In addition, Hispanic Heritage Month continues through October 15. Vanderbilt University is hosting a variety of events related to Hispanic Heritage Month. This month’s theme is #SomosVU, which translates to “We are Vanderbilt.” There will be two more events after October 15. See here for more info.
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AI Predicts Next-Day Delirium or Coma in ICU Patients
Critical care patients are prone to shift intermittently into delirium or coma without warning. A team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center used machine learning to predict the likelihood of next-day brain function status changes in these patients. The team’s report appears in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
“Time spent in the ICU with delirium or coma is associated with increased mortality and adverse long-term outcomes such as dementia. Reliable next-day forecasting of these patient transitions into and out of acute brain dysfunction could go a long way toward improving care and ICU resource allocation,” said the principal investigator of the study, You Chen, PhD, FAMIA, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics.
Other Vanderbilt investigators on the study include lead author Chao Yan, a computer science PhD candidate, Cheng Gao, PhD, Ziqi Zhang, Wencong Chen, PhD, Bradley Malin, PhD, FACMI, FAIMBE, FIAHSI, E. Wesley Ely, MD, and Mayur Patel, MD, MPH. Read more in the VUMC Reporter.
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Lisa Bastarache Discussed EHRs on DNA Podcast
Lisa Bastarache, MS, Research Associate Professor and Scientific Director of PheWAS Core, explained in Season 2, Episode 6 of the VUMC Discoveries in Action (DNA) Podcast that the EHR is “very noisy, messy” so it needs big populations to study genetic associations. She also loves when people opt-in to BioVU. Listen here!
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Robert Turer & Trent Rosenbloom Published Open Results Survey: "Patient Perceptions of Receiving COVID-19 Test Results via an Online Patient Portal"
Robert Turer, MD, recent graduate of the Masters in Applied Clinical Informatics (MSACI) program and Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Rosenbloom and colleagues found that open access to COVID-19 test results via patient portal helped patients manage their health and lives. Click to read the study here. Dr. Turer also commented about the study on Twitter. Read his thread here.
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Gretchen Purcell Jackson Named to "Women to Watch Class of 2021"
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Travis Osterman & Brian Yoon Published Study: "Evaluating Health Disparities in Access to Genomic Testing for Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients"
Travis Osterman, DO, MS, FAMIA, Assistant Professor in DBMI, Hematology and Oncology and Director of Cancer Clinical Informatics at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), and DBMI/IBM intern Brian Yoon published a study highlighting disparities in genomics testing. Brian presented the poster at the 2021 ASCO Quality Symposium. Click to read more.
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Alvin Jeffery Published Study on Quantifying the Association of Access to Bundle-Enhancing Supplies and Equipment in ICU
A new paper by Alvin Jeffery, PhD, RN/APN, Assistant Professor in DBMI and the Vanderbilt School of Nursing, published in the Critical Care Explorations found that ICU delirium prevention efforts are more likely to be implemented when helpful ICU equipment is located closer to patients. Click to read more.
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You Chen Published Study: "Predicting Next-Day Discharge via EHR Access Logs"
Drs. You Chen, Brad Malin, and colleagues aimed support next-day discharge predictions with machine learning by incorporating electronic health record (EHR) audit log data, a resource that captures EHR users’ granular interactions with patients’ records by communicating various semantics and has been neglected in outcome predictions. The study was published in JAMIA. Click to read more.
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Lindsay Mayberry Featured in Healio: "Diabetes Self-Management Support May Reduce Depressive Symptoms in Type 2 Diabetes"
Participation in diabetes self-management support interventions may help adults with type 2 diabetes reduce depressive symptoms, according to a study conducted by Lindsay Mayberry, PhD, MS, Director of the Effective Health Communication Core and Associate Professor in Medicine and DBMI, and colleagues. Click to read more.
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AMIA Student Rehearsals — October 18 & 22
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Several of our graduate students are presenting a paper or poster at AMIA, including two students (Mirza Khan & KJ Krause) who are finalists in the student paper competition. As always, students would appreciate receiving your feedback and support before AMIA. We invite you to attend these rehearsals to help our students prepare for the conference.
October 18 (12–1:30 pm CT): Marily Barron, Congning Ni, Xinmeng Zhang. Zoom link here.
October 18 (4-5:30 pm CT): Katie Williamson, Yongtai Liu, Chao Yan, Brian Douthit. Zoom link here.
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Mirza Khan, MD, MS, Instructor in Clinical Medicine and DBMI, was selected as one of the eight student paper finalists in the AMIA 2021 Annual Symposium for his paper entitled "Intrinsic Evaluation of Contextual and Non-contextual Word Embeddings using Radiology Reports."
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Kevin "KJ" Krause, PhD Student in DBMI, was selected as one of the eight student paper finalists in the AMIA 2021 Annual Symposium for his paper entitled "Predicting Motor Responsiveness to Deep Brain Stimulation with Machine Learning."
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DBMI Spotlight: Elizabeth Brown
Each month, we will feature one or more members of our DBMI faculty, staff, student, trainee or alumni. If you or someone you know is new to the department, has an interesting backstory, or is making an impact at work or in their personal lives, email Mia Garchitorena at mia.garchitorena@vumc.org!
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As Chief Business Officer of DBMI, Elizabeth Brown is the backbone of the department. She spends her days juggling various administrative and financial tasks, including resolving personnel issues, handling multi-million-dollar budgets, assisting with recruitment and student affairs and more.
“I jump from one extreme thing to another,” she says with a laugh. “You have to be nimble and be able to move quickly.”
Elizabeth’s workload has only increased during the pandemic, like it has for many of us in DBMI. But she continues to be a stable force in the department. If someone seeks her help, she will do anything to point you in the right direction, even if she doesn’t have direct answers herself. “I know just enough about 100 things!” she says.
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Elizabeth grew up in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville until she left for Tuscaloosa to attend the University of Alabama, where she majored in finance.
She chose finance because it meant she “could work in any industry because every place has a budget,” she explains. “I could work in a hospital, the travel industry, or a Fortune 500 company! It would open doors to lots of different environments.”
Her first job out of school was in commercial real estate at the Dollar General Corporation, where she negotiated rent and lease deals at shopping centers across the U.S. Afterwards, she worked at Tennessee State University as the Director of Financial Programs.
By summer 2006, she applied to VUMC as her husband, Clint (whom she met during her senior year of college), had just begun working there and is currently the Director of Sponsored Programs. Pictured above: Clint and Elizabeth married in 2004 after six years of dating.
She received offers from three departments for administrative officer positions, including in DBMI. She chose DBMI because she had a “really good feeling” about Dan Masys, MD, FACMI, former Chair of DBMI, and Kevin Johnson, MD, MS, FAAP, FAMIA, FACMI, FIAHSI.
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“The culture Kevin built within the department continued to grow in a positive way,” she says of Dr. Johnson’s time as Chair of DBMI. “Because of that culture, people want to be here and stay. That’s unique.”
Pictured left: Kevin and Elizabeth handing out gifts to employees during the holidays, 2020.
Elizabeth shares her favorite things about Kevin, who departs DBMI after October 2021: “To find someone who cares so much about people on a personal level, from the students to staff and faculty, and be so sincere about it – I’ve enjoyed that the most about Kevin. I also appreciate his creative ideas on how to solve issues. That’s been incredibly helpful to me.”
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The eldest of three girls, Elizabeth and her sisters’ future careers were heavily influenced by their father, an educator with a PhD in math.
“Education was important in our household,” she says. “We were raised with the idea that education and a strong work ethic were vitally important to get to where you want to go.”
Pictured right, from left to right: Elizabeth with Allison, a research administrative officer in infectious disease at VUMC; Amy, a medical software salesperson in Alabama; and their mother, Sandy.
Elizabeth and her siblings all ended up working in health care, which Elizabeth says isn’t a coincidence on her part. “I had an internal pull towards health care, due to experiencing various health issues myself,” she says.
A turning point in Elizabeth’s life was at age 12, when she was diagnosed with a cardiac issue, a condition which created extreme heart rate deviations. She underwent a surgical procedure by age 18 and received medications to control her condition while she was away at college. However, after graduating, her condition worsened so much that she had no choice but to move back home to Nashville. “It was something I didn’t want to do. I was very independent and had grandiose plans for traveling.”
Soon after moving back, she was admitted to the hospital, where she experienced such a severe episode that she “coded.” She was 24. Thankfully, after receiving a pacemaker, her condition improved. Now, she eats healthy meals, exercises regularly, and she undergoes acupuncture to stave off muscle pain. She still experiences the occasional flare-up, though.
“I’m grateful for the experience now, it taught me so much about myself and how strong people can be,” she continues. “You have a choice of folding and giving up or pushing through, persevering, and going along with a change in life direction.”
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This lifechanging experience inspired Elizabeth to embrace positivity and appreciate quality time spent with Clint and their eight-year-old daughter, Blair.
Pictured above, from left to right: Sandy with young Elizabeth, Blair and Elizabeth, the Brown family on vacation.
A unique passion of Elizabeth’s is going all-out when hosting holiday dinners or themed parties for Blair and her friends. Elizabeth recently threw Blair a science-themed birthday party (pictured left) that included a tablecloth with a periodic table on it, an elaborate spread of food (with “hazardous hash browns”), security clearance and more!
“Blair is very intellectual and loves science,” Elizabeth says. “Since she was two, she’s always wanted to be a pediatric surgeon – she’s obsessed with medicine and bones!”
“I found that as I’ve gotten older, I like to cook, set a beautiful table and make an occasion special. It’s the way I show love to people,” she continues. “I want to create a nice, enjoyable experience for others. If I can do that with a meal and event, then great.”
Elizabeth loves to cook and is always researching recipes. If you have a favorite recipe, email her at elizabeth.a.brown@vumc.org!
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Open Enrollment for 2022 Benefits — October 13 to 29
Open Enrollment ends at 11:59 pm CT, Friday, October 29. The benefits you choose will last from Jan. 1, 2022 until Dec. 31, 2022.
If you do not participate in Open Enrollment, your benefits choices from 2021 will stay the same in 2022, but you will miss out on several key savings:
- You will not receive the $20 tobacco-free credit for 2022 if you don’t go through Open Enrollment.
- You won’t be able to add money to a health care or dependent day care flexible spending account in 2022 if you don’t go through Open Enrollment.
- If you paid the spousal coverage fee of $100 in 2021, you will pay the spousal coverage fee in 2022 unless you go through Open Enrollment and change your health care coverage and/or dependents.
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Update: COVID-19 Testing and Vaccinations at One Hundred Oaks
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Effective Monday, October 4, the following COVID-19 resources are available at One Hundred Oaks.
- The COVID-19 testing site has closed.
- Testing is now available at walk-in clinics and Metro testing locations.COVID-19 pre-procedural testing has moved to the third floor mass vaccination site at OHO.
- COVID-19 first, second, or third (booster) doses are being administered at the third floor mass vaccination site.
The third floor mass vaccination/pre-procedural testing site is open from 8:00 am to 4:20 pm CT, seven days a week. Patients who are eligible for a Pfizer booster should schedule an appointment through their My Health at Vanderbilt account or at https://www.vumc.org/coronavirus/GetVaccines.
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Reminder: FLUla-2-Uza Makes Getting Your Flu Immunization Easy and Convenient
FLUla-2-Uza makes getting your flu immunization easy and convenient. Between accessible locations on Nashville’s campus, Vanderbilt Health Clinics and programs that allow flu vaccines to come directly to your department, FLUla-2-Uza is a great way to receive your vaccine by December 1.
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REMINDER: Contact Terri Demumbrum When Considering a Grant Submission
All grant proposals require approval of the Office of Sponsored Programs prior to submission. Terri will review the opportunity announcement and prepare a submission timeline/checklist as well as help with the submission. Email her at terri.demumbrum@vumc.org.
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Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core Grants — APPLY BY OCT. 22. The Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core invites proposals for activities that promote on-going, mutually beneficial, health-oriented research partnerships between community organizations and academic researchers. Two grants are available: (1) Partnership Development Grants: Up to $2500 to support the development and strengthening of community -academic partnerships. (2) Community-Engaged Research Grants: Up to $10,000 to enable community-academic research partnerships to undertake pilot research activities. Click to read more.
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2022 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study — APPLY BY DEC. 9. These fellowships provide $53,000 per year for up to three years and will be awarded to adviser-student pairs, with each pair comprising an eligible graduate student engaged in their PhD dissertation research along with their thesis adviser. HHMI anticipates making 50 awards in 2022. The program announcement that provides full details about the program, including eligibility criteria, can be found here.
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REMINDER: Please Purchase Refundable Flights
If you are traveling anywhere on VUMC-related business, please purchase refundable tickets.
Given the ongoing pandemic, some conferences may be be cancelled. Additionally, people may also change their mind about their comfort level with traveling. The cost difference between non-refundable and refundable is usually marginal and it helps the admin team avoid an administrative headache. If you have any questions, please contact Doug McCoy, Senior Financial Analyst, at douglas.mccoy@vumc.org.
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DBMI Welcomes New Employees
Please welcome the following new employees, who recently joined or will soon join DBMI!
- Sheila Kusnoor — Research Assistant Professor, joined on October 1.
- Bhavnisha Patel — App. Developer under Michael Matheny. Joining on October 18.
- Patrick Wu — Research Analyst II/PT under Wei-Qi Wei. Joining on October 18
- Joshua Osmanski — IT Project Manager under Michael Matheny. Joining on October 25.
- Sandi Holtzclaw — Project Manager under Elizabeth Brown. Joining on October 25.
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Go for the Gold! — Deadline: October 31
Just two more weeks to Go for the Gold! And this year it is easy to navigate, quick to complete and mobile friendly! You can earn up to $240 Reward for completing all 3 Steps!
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Annual Discussion, 2021
REMINDER: The annual evaluation deadline was extended to October 29, 2021. If you have questions or need detailed evaluation instructions, please contact Elizabeth Brown and Belinda Ballard.
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Open Positions
Upcoming Events
Visit here for more details on the upcoming DBMI webinars and research colloquiums in October 2021.
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