Ruth Dayhoff

Ruth Dayhoff (May 16, 1952 – July 29, 2025) was an American physician and medical bioinformatician.

Early life Dayhoff was the daughter of Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, an early bioinformatician, and Edward S Dayhoff, a distinguished physicist in the area of electro-optics. From a young age, Dayhoff was encouraged by her mother to pursue scientific interests. In Dayhoff's words: My mother was a science professor in a medical school and convinced me that I had to understand not only what physicians knew, but also how they worked and made decisions. I had always thought that computers would be important to the future of medicine and biology. I was interested in all of these areas as I was growing up, and I had a choice whether to study computer science or go to medical school. So I decided to go to medical school to better understand not only the treatment of patients but the actions and knowledge of physicians. She was elected a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics in .

Career Dayhoff pioneered integrated hospital digital imaging systems. She built a prototype demonstration of the VistA Imaging system in her basement in 1986. Dayhoff has held high-ranking positions in the US Department of Veterans Affairs' VistA Imaging Project since 1989. She served as the national projects manager and retired as Director of Digital Imaging in Medicine. As national projects manager, she supervised integration of old patient records with the VA computerized system for patient records. This system is currently implemented at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where it has been running for twenty years, and at over 150 other medical institutions. Dayhoff was chosen by the National Library of Medicine as one of the outstanding women physicians in America who "changed the face of medicine".

In 2020, the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine announced the creation of the annual Dr. Ruth Dayhoff Award for the Advancement of Women in Medical Imaging Informatics.