Former UC Dean Elected Chair of National Consortium

John J. Hutton, MD, professor of pediatrics and former dean of the UC College of Medicine, was elected chair of the Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) Consortium, a voluntary organization dedicated to the innovative application of computing and communication technologies in the management of health information.

"The IAIMS Consortium and program are all about developing better ways of sharing the vast amount of information available in medicine and medical research," said Dr. Hutton.  "This is a cooperative effort.  It is a pleasure to have our Cincinnati team be in the position to play a leadership role nationally."

The UC IAIMS program began nearly twenty years ago.  UC was awarded a four-year $1.6 million operations grant from the National Library of Medicine in May 2003.  This grant, only the 13th of its kind awarded since IAIMS's inception in 1984, will help to fund the research and development of a digital portfolio for health sciences students, residents, and faculty.  IAIMS will also provide a paperless research administration system and a coordinated bioinformatics program between the UC Medical Center and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

"This appointment is a tribute to Dr. Hutton's leadership and contributions both locally and nationally," said Jane E. Henney, MD, senior vice president and provost for health affairs and chair of UC's IAIMS Steering Committee.

IAIMS is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program.  The IAIMS Consortium consists of 35 member institutions and is affiliated with the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).  The National Library of Medicine, a branch of the NIH, provides grants to health-related institutions and organizations that seek assistance for projects.  Grants support planning, design, testing and deployment of systems and techniques for integrating data, information and knowledge resources into a comprehensive networked information management system.