Cole Impresses with Recent Achievements
October 31, 2023
CHIP PhD student, Amy Cole, has been very busy these past several months. In addition her to full-time position as a UNC School of Medicine IT Project Manager, she has been an active and award-winning participant at several conferences. On June 29, she attended the Oley Foundation Annual 
Conference held in St. Louis, Missouri. The Oley Foundation is a non-profit home nutrition therapy community and advocacy group with over 27,000 members. The conference recognized Amy as one of the 2023 HPN Research Winners as the lead author on a clinical research paper titled, Identifying Experiences Related to Accessing Central Venous Catheters (CVCs)/Central lines for Treatment Infusions and Parenteral (IV) Nutrition (PN). Her co-authors included Lukasz Mazur, Nancy Havill, Karthik Adapa, and Daniel R. Richardson. She also participated in a panel presentation during the conference to discuss her paper and findings.
In addition, Amy had 2 poster presentations accepted for October conferences. On October 6, she attended the UNC Health Nursing Research, EBP & Quality Conference: Caring for Our Community Conference. She presented her poster titled, User-Centered Medical Device Design: Integrating Co-Design and Cognitive Ergonomics for Enhanced Nursing, Patient and Caregiver Experiences. Co-authors included Lukasz Mazur, Nancy Havill, Karthik Adapa, Daniel R. Richardson. And on October 19, Amy attended the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) Annual Conference to present her poster titled Impact of graphically visualizing PROM responses on perceived shared decision-making for symptom management in patients with chronic conditions: A rapid review. Co-authors included Angela M. Stover and Lukasz Mazur.
Amy's PhD advisor, Dr. Lukasz Mazur, Associate Professor, UNC School of Information and Library Science and UNC School of Medicine has been impressed with Amy's commitment and drive. "Amy is one of the most dedicated PhD students I have ever worked with. Her motivation for the research is self-driven and that's what makes working with Amy very special. We are lucky to have her," he said.
Liao Shines on Internship Despite Challenges
September 28, 2023
[caption id="attachment_10775" align="alignleft" width="216"]
MPS BMHI student Wan-Ting Liao[/caption]
Master's degree student, Wan-Ting Liao, was excited to finish up her internship for her degree earlier this fall semester. She secured a position with the School of Medicine in Pediatric Infectious Disease at UNC, working with a research team led by Associate Professor, Dr. Xiaojing Zheng. Her internship focused on processing genomic data, specifically tuberculosis data and required her to use her skills and knowledge of data retrieval, literature reviews, and cleaning data. Though she was very excited to delve into the world of genomics, she also encountered significant challenges that she worked diligently to overcome. Liao commented, "It was a thrilling experience to work with large-scale genomic datasets, something I hadn't encountered before, and to apply my biology background to a new and challenging domain. The most significant challenge I faced was the steep learning curve associated with genomic data processing, as it required me to acquire a new skill set and to adapt to the unique data formats and specialized R packages." Despite the challenges, Liao noted that the internship expanded her professional horizons and gave her the skills and experience to tackle complex research projects with confidence in the future. Her mentor, Professor Zheng noted that her performance and attention to detail was exceptional during the course of the internship. She truly became a valued member of the research team.
After graduation, Liao plans to find a role in data analysis or data science within healthcare, biotech, or pharmaceutical companies. "I aspire to contribute my skills and expertise to drive advancements in these critical fields. I am keen to explore applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in healthcare, collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to bridge the gap between data analysis and domain-specific knowledge, and continuously expand my knowledge and expertise in this rapidly evolving field," said Liao. She aims to have a meaningful impact on medical research, patient care, and the development of life-saving treatments.
CHIP Alumni Spotlight – Dale Henion
September 28, 2023
Meet CHIP alum Dale Henion! Professor Henion is a graduate of the UNC Master of Professional Science in Biomedical and Health Informatics Program, class of 2020. He is currently the Associate Director for Cardiac Services with UNC Health. 
He is also an adjunct professor with the School of Information and Library Science, teaching the Digital Health and Innovation Impact course for the CHIP program. Learn more about Professor Henion below.
Tell us about your career/education story and what led you to pursue the MPS BMHI program with CHIP?
After the UNC Health System went live with EPIC in 2014, I discovered the data warehouse and became obsessed with acquiring skills to harness data for operational insight and improvement. It appeared to be a gigantic opportunity and no one else around me seemed to be looking at it. Within a few years I researched every graduate school offering health informatics in the country before discovering that UNC had recently launched the CHIP masters program.
What have you been up to since you graduated?
After graduation, I continued to work as a manager of cardiac services at UNC while doing valuable projects beyond my own department. These projects helped me build on skills I learned in the program and opened the door for a promotion to Associate Director for Cardiac Services.
What do you find most rewarding in your work?
I find building dashboards to be the most rewarding and exciting work because they give back so much so often. Research projects tend to grow my data skills the most, but analysis and insight is short lived. Dashboards can automate complex data acquisition and provide a wealth of valuable insights. Watching these insights be discovered, catalyze change, and then track improvements is incredibly satisfying. The most valuable and innovative changes in healthcare generally require dashboards. And they also facilitate excellent conversations with stakeholders.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
I have four daughters, the youngest of which is 1 y/o. Activities we enjoy together include swimming, hiking, playing board/card games, and reading stories out loud. I recently started playing the ukelele.
What advice would you give CHIP current students?
The skills you build in the CHIP program are desperately needed by many healthcare stakeholders. I believe your success largely depends on your ability to seek to understand the needs of others. If your primary aim is to seek to understand the needs of others, you can most naturally develop the kind of relationships needed to fuel a rewarding career of solving issues and driving innovation.
Machine Learning for Maternal Health
September 26, 2023
During this past summer, experts and professionals in the field of machine learning in improving maternal healthcare gathered together in Dhaka, Bangladesh for a highly informative and engaging workshop. Founder and former Director of CHIP, Dr. Javed Mostafa and CHIP PhD student Mohammad Kibria, led a certificate course titled "Analytics & Machine Learning Techniques for Maternal and Health Interventions". The event was a joint effort with School of Health Life Sciences at North South University in Dhaka and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During the course, Dr. Mostafa spoke of the value of using machine learning to predict pregnancy risks, which allowed for earlier patient counseling and risk prevention. Kibria led an interactive session to show the benefits of cloud computing in healthcare data management, which allows for greater flexibility and increased accessibility. The training provided valuable insights and in-depth knowledge on the crucial intersection of machine learning and maternal health. The recognition and interest the workshop garnered was a testament to the importance and relevance of machine learning in the field of maternal healthcare.
Dr. David Gotz to serve as Interim Director of CHIP
September 5, 2023
The CHIP program is excited to announce that Dr. David Gotz will serve as interim director of the Carolina Health Informatics Program as of September 1, 2023. Dr. Gotz is a Professor in the UNC School of Information and Library Sciences (SILS) and has previously served as the Assistant Director of CHIP. Dr. Gotz leads the Visual Analysis and Communications Lab where his research focuses on the study and development of visual methods for information analysis and communication. His work is supported by a variety of public and private funding agencies, including multiple awards from NSF and NIH. He regularly teaches programming for information professionals and has previously taught systems analysis and visual analytics courses. Please join us in welcoming Dr. Gotz as interim director of CHIP!