Kelly Aldrich DNP, RN, NI-BC, FHIMSS, FAAN
Dr. Aldrich is a board-certified Informatics Nurse Specialist and has served for over 35 years in clinical, academic, and executive leadership roles recognized as a senior informatics leader, innovator, and advocate for useful, safe, and effective healthcare transformation. She is a Professor of Nursing and Director of Informatics Innovation for the Vanderbilt School of Nursing with a secondary appointment in the Department of Biomedical Informatics. She is a Fellow of both HIMSS and the American Academy of Nurses (AAN).
Dr. Aldrich spent the first twenty years of her career at the bedside in cardiac and trauma critical care settings. Driven by a passion and dedication to create a seamless patient-centered care environments supported by functional technology, she pursued further academic training in informatics and executive leadership. She is the former Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for Center for Medical Interoperability; a non-profit organization led by health systems to simplify and advance data sharing among medical technologies and systems. Prior to that, she served as the invited inaugural Chief Nursing Informatics Officer for HCA Healthcare 180 hospitals where she successfully created clinical informatics strategic and tactical roadmaps for implementing meaningful solutions, at scale all that innovatively connected clinical practice and technology, focusing on optimizing patient care environments while lessening nurse’s burden.
At Vanderbilt she is creating strategic adoption of immersive virtual reality environments for education advancement that includes AI assessments for practice training and her MIND lab, mindful immersive nursing demonstration lab that is focused on Prescribing Technology for nurse well-being and self-care.
Dr. Aldrich’s publications center on advocating for the unique nurse identifier and Digital RN citizen model. Other publications include Informatics for Nursing documentation standards that utilize the CCC, her model for Blending Education Leadership and Technology (BELT) for highly reliable technology systems in innovation, Interoperability for Better Care, the ANA Nursing Informatics Scope and Standards of Practice revision and her work with the CDC on Healthcare Trust Data Platforms demonstrating automation of PPE data in burn and predictive needs for the nation.
With her background in practice, informatics, technology, and innovation, Dr. Aldrich proudly represents the nursing perspective on HHS/ONC task forces focused on interoperability experience, standards, and contributes to many industries advisory councils and committees. Additionally, she owns and manages an executive informatics consulting company.
She received her Master of Science in Healthcare Systems Leadership and Nursing Informatics and Doctor of Nursing from the University of South Florida.