Mission

Mission: To improve the health of populations by developing innovative methods to transform diverse data into actionable knowledge for research, healthcare delivery, and public health.

Objectives:

  • Research. To hire, mentor, and retain research investigators in the clinical informatics space that combine a good foundation in informatics with strong quantitative skills and an understanding of the clinical enterprise.  Examples of strengths being in “big data analytics,” biostatistics, large database and data structure knowledge, controlled terminologies and common data models, distributed/grid computing, and missing data management.  This includes competing for grants, publishing, and serving as domain experts in advisory, study section, and other venues that support Center and institutional prominence in this domain.
  • Education. To promote and support the educational mission of the institution and informatics by contributing to the teaching and lecturing curriculum with regards to population health and public health informatics, as well as mentoring students in informatics research projects within this domain.
  • Service. To provide expert consultation and management of operational population health informatics initiatives, to support the research initiatives of institutional investigators, fellows, and students, and to provide guidance into the intersection and synergy of developing research in conjunction with operational initiatives.

Faculty, trainees, staff, and collaborators of the Center for Improving the Public's Health through Informatics (CIPHI) conduct population-based informatics research across multiple disciplines under informatics. We also have a strong affiliation with Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) and the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, which has created this multidisciplinary and collaborative center. We have a strong relationship with the Middle Tennessee Research Institute (MTRI) as well.