As another academic year ends, it is time to reflect over the past academic year and celebrate the successes in the biomedical informatics program at Oregon Health & Science University.
Thirty-eight students completed their degrees in either Health & Clinical Informatics or Bioinformatics and Computational Biomedicine. Three HCIN and one BCB students were awarded the Doctorate of Philosophy, 17 HCIN and seven BCB students received their Master of Science (M.S.) degree, and 10 HCIN students completed the graduate certificate program. Since inception of the program in 1996, it has awarded a total of 941 degrees and certificates, including 36 Ph.D. degrees, 422 M.S. degrees, and 483 graduate certificates.
After two years of virtual celebrations, on Sunday, June 5, 2022, OHSU held an in-person convocation at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, OR. Along with DMICE faculty (Drs. William Hersh, Karen Eden, Michelle Hribar, Shannon McWeeney, and Nicole Weiskopf), 19 DMICE students also attended the ceremony, including several distance-learning students from around the country. For those unable to attend, OHSU provided a live-stream of the convocation ceremony. Hooding was also live-streamed as well as available for later viewing.
Several DMICE students and faculty received awards this spring.
Congratulations to Sarah Florig, M.S., who received the School of Medicine Best Thesis Award for her master’s thesis, Assessing How Chart Closure Time Changes When Physicians Use Medical Scribes. This award is given to recognize an outstanding journal article authored or co-authored by an OHSU SOM graduate student. Sarah also won the Student Paper Competition at the AMIA Annual Symposium in the fall of 2021.
Rose Goueth, Ph.D., received the Assistant Dean’s Award for Exemplary Contributions to the Graduate Program Award. This award recognizes Rose’s contribution to DMICE and the OHSU community at large. She co-founded and served as a committee member of the Graduate Student Peer Network, which pairs incoming graduate students with senior graduate students. Rose also received the Best Open-Mic Presentation Award at the 2021 Annual NLM Training Meeting.
Kirsten Stevens, M.D., Ph.D., became the second MD/PhD graduate of our program and is now a resident in internal medicine at the University of Washington.
Associate Professor Vishnu Mohan, M.D., M.B.I. received the SOM Excellence in Education Award. The award recognizes his leadership in enhancing student education and advancing education (for graduate students and clinical informatics fellows) through development and creation of new curricular designs and his service as an outstanding educator and mentor for students.
DMICE also held its annual spring banquet for the first time since 2019. The banquet was held at the McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse in Hillsboro, OR, with more than 80 faculty, staff, students graduates, and guests in attendance. The 15 graduates who attended the banquet were honored there as well. Thanks to Lynne Schwabe and her hard work in organizing a successful event! It was great to see everyone in person again.
