Join the DBMI "ADVANCE" AI Center Launch Event—March 8 in Langford Auditorium

ADVANCE Center Launch Event: Friday, March 8, 2024:Join the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the launch of its new "ADVANCE" Center, hosted by Co-Directors Peter Embi, MD, MS, and Bradley Malin, PhD, at Langford Auditorium. There will be presentations and panel discussions from 2:00 to 3:15 pm CT, followed by a networking reception from 3:15 pm to 4:30 pm CT. Questions?

We're Hiring! Financial Analyst Opening—Apply Today!

FINANCIAL ANALYST OPENING The Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at VUMC is seeking a Financial Analyst to develop, analyze, and conduct financial analyses to assess the viability of financial plans and programs, financial statements, compensation analyses, financial packages and presentations on various projects, under occasional guidance. Experience level: 2 years. Education: Bachelor's degree.

Ashley Spann Received Two Career Development Awards

Ashley Spann, MD, MSACI, assistant professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics, is the inaugural recipient of the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program Hepatology Award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

Brad Malin Elected IEEE Fellow

Brad Malin, PhD, was recently elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for his contributions to data engineering, privacy and security in biomedicine.

DBMI Digest Feb 2024 Issue—Now Available!

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) Department of Biomedical Informatics's (DBMI) monthly newsletter, DBMI Digest, is now available to view. 

VUMC Establishes RAPID-LHS Center

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been awarded a $5 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to establish a multidisciplinary center focused on training scientists and supporting research to minimize gaps between the generation of clinical evidence, implementation of proven interventions and development of informed public health policy.

Now Hiring: Research Analyst II for Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC)

Research Analyst II – Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC) The Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC) leads clinical informatics research and practice at VUMC, with a focus on making electronic health records (EHRs) safer, smarter, and more effective by using cutting edge artificial intelligence approaches to learn from the vast amount of data collected in EHRs, among other methods. 

Barbara-Jo Achuff, MD

Barbara-Jo
Achuff
Associate Professor
Department of Pediatrics
Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Informatics
2200 Children's Way
Room / Suite
5121
Nashville
Tennessee
37232
barbara-jo.achuff@vumc.org

As an attending in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, my overarching career goal is to improve early and late outcomes for children with cardiac disease with a primary focus on sedation and pain management practices during the patient’s intensive care unit stay. Through novel data discovery, pattern recognition and visualizations of large amount of data over time, I have developed recommended age-based analgesia/sedation pathways and metrics for patients in the CICU. With current, accurate and timely clinical reports and dashboarding, I continue to lead scientific processes and analytics leveraging data for quality improvement and excellent care at the bedside for the most fragile patients in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

My research on medication choices and the effect on post-operative mechanical ventilation revealed that meticulous post-operatively pain and sedation management allows for less opioid exposure and early liberation from ventilator support after cardiac surgery, even for the youngest patients. My more recent publications include a novel approach to analyze high fidelity hemodynamic data including millions of beat-to-beat systolic blood pressure measurements surrounding recorded medication administration in our PCICU. The development of algorithms around therapies and interventions in the ICU using expert systems allows the analysis of time-series data. This provides insight to clinicians who can be prepared to intervene and act accordingly, improving outcomes for these critically ill children. This work in big data sets has led to my pursuit of board certification in Clinical Informatics and membership with the Alliance of AI in Medicine and Pediatric Centers of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (PCAIM).

M.D.
Jefferson Medical College, 1996
Residency
Pediatrics - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Fellowships
Pediatric Critical Care - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Board Certification
Clinical Informatics, 2023

Ann Holmes, MS

Ann
Holmes
MS
Data Scientist Assistant I
Department of Biomedical Informatics
2525 West End Avenue
Room / Suite
1500
Nashville
Tennessee
37203
ann.holmes@vumc.org

Ann Holmes works with Dr. Robert Carroll in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at VUMC on interoperability through the NIH such as the INCLUDE Data Coordinating Center. She is passionate about making the future of research more accessible and collaborative.