AMIA, PHIN, and the Synergies Between Public Health and Biomedical Informatics

Biomedical informatics is featured prominently in the planned funding for health information technology that is included in the administration’s economic stimulus plan.  In this talk, Dr. Shortliffe will share his vision on the interface between public health and biomedical informatics, illuminate shining examples of public health informatics in practice, describe specific needs for collaboration, and discuss what the future might bring.  The emphasis will be on natural synergies and shared goals between the informatics and public health communities, making enhanced collaboration and coordination both logical and essential, with implications for research, the design of implementation projects, and the training of individuals with expertise in both domains.

In late 2007, AMIA announced a partnership with the CDC, originally designed to train and educate the public health workforce (with a focus on local and state health agencies); to enhance curricular content for public health informatics; to explore and foster innovations in public health informatics; to convene experts on topics to advance the Nation’s public health informatics agenda, including education and research, and to develop position papers; and to help strengthen informatics at the CDC.  AMIA’s formal interest in enhancing public health informatics dates back to 2001, when the organization’s Spring Congress “brought together members of the public health and informatics communities to develop a national agenda for public health informatics. Discussions of funding and governance; architecture and infrastructure; standards and vocabulary; research, evaluation, and best practices; privacy, confidentiality, and security; and training and workforce resulted in 74 recommendations with two key themes—that all stakeholders need to be engaged in coordinated activities related to public health information architecture, standards, confidentiality, best practices, and research; and that informatics training is needed throughout the public health workforce.” (J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2001;8:535-545.)