Edward H. Shortliffe

Edward ("Ted") Hance Shortliffe (born 1947) is a Canadian-born American biomedical informatician, His research has focused on artificial intelligence in medicine, clinical decision support systems, biomedical knowledge representation, health information technology, and medical informatics education.

He is also regarded as a founder of the field of biomedical informatics, and in 2006 received one of its highest honors, the Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence given by the American College of Medical Informatics.

In July 2009, Shortliffe assumed a position as president and chief executive officer of the American Medical Informatics Association, an organization that he helped to form between 1988 and 1990 when he was President of the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care.

Early life and education Shortliffe was born in 1947 and spent part of his childhood in Edmonton, Alberta, before moving with his family to Connecticut. His father was a physician and hospital administrator, while his mother was an English teacher.

He attended Loomis School (now Loomis Chaffee School) in Connecticut and later an exchange student year at Gresham's School in the United Kingdom.

Shortliffe graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1970 with an A.B. in applied mathematics (computer science). He subsequently attended Stanford University, earning a Ph.D. in Medical Information Sciences in 1975 and an M.D. in 1976.

Career

Standford University After completing residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford Hospital between 1976 and 1979, Shortliffe joined the Stanford University faculty in General Internal Medicine.

At Stanford, he went on to succeed Joshua Lederberg and Edward Feigenbaum as the third Director of the Stanford University Medical Experimental Computer Resource (SUMEX) and later the Center for Advanced Medical Informatics at Stanford (CAMIS).

Shortliffe also practiced medicine at Stanford and served as chief of general internal medicine and associate chair of medicine for primary care.

In 1980, he established one of the earliest formal graduate training programs in biomedical informatics at Stanford University. The program became influential in training researchers, physicians, and scientists who later assumed leadership positions throughout the informatics community.

Columbia University In 2000, Shortliffe joined Columbia University as chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics. He also served as deputy vice president of Columbia University Medical Center, senior associate dean for strategic information resources, professor of medicine, professor of computer science, and director of medical informatics services for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

University of Arizona and Arizona State University In March 2007, Shortliffe became the founding dean of the Phoenix campus of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, which was created as a collaborative effort between the University of Arizona and Arizona State University (ASU). At ASU he was also appointed as a Professor of Biomedical Informatics.

American Medical Informatics Association In July 2009, Shortliffe became president and chief executive officer of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).

His appointment reflected a long-standing association with organizations that helped shape the biomedical informatics profession in North America. During his tenure, AMIA continued efforts to promote research, education, policy development, and professional standards in health informatics.

Research and contributions Shortliffe's research has focused on artificial intelligence in medicine, decision support systems, biomedical knowledge representation, health information systems, and medical education.

Professional service He was elected (1987) to the Institute of Medicine, now known as the National Academy of Medicine. Election to the Institute of Medicine is considered one of the highest professional honors in American healthcare and biomedical science. He is also an elected Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (1990).

Publications Shortliffe is the author or co-author of more than 350 scientific publications and several books. Appointed Rolf H. Scholdager Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, June 2005. National Associate, National Academies, Washington, DC, December 2004. Mastership, American College of Physicians, November 2002 Young Investigator Award, Western Society for Clinical Investigation, February 1987. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Faculty Scholar in General Internal Medicine, July 1983—June 1988. Research Career Development Award, National Library of Medicine, July 1979—June 1984. Grace Murray Hopper Award (Distinguished computer scientist under age 30), Association for Computing Machinery, October 1976