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.
