About Institute for Health Informatics

Institute for Health Informatics Educates Students and Conducts Research in Biomedical and Health Informatics

IHI focuses on on the design, use, and evaluation of information systems that support and improve healthcare while protecting the safety and confidentiality of those who receive that care. It is an interdisciplinary endeavor that encompasses work in a variety of settings from tertiary care hospitals to specialty clinics, mental health facilities, community clinics, nursing homes, and home care agencies.

The Institute's scope of research ranges from methodologic development in natural language processing to design of standard terminologies and ontologies and includes testing and evaluation of electronic health record systems, design and testing of better ways of presenting information to improve decision making and designing and implementing information systems to support clinical research.

 

Mission

The IHI builds and supports teams of biomedical and health informatics professionals with expertise in dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, veterinary medicine, library science, computer science, and management sciences for the purpose of:

  • Developing strong interprofessional research teams that engage biomedical and health informatics for strengthening the future of health and health care,
  • Serving as the academic home for professional, graduate and post-graduate education in biomedical health informatics at the University of Minnesota, and
  • Fostering engagement with the community and international partners in applying biomedical health informatics to improve health and health care.

Faculty

The IHI faculty comprises a diverse array of leaders from academia and the health care community. Together the faculty represent eight University of Minnesota schools, colleges, and institutes, as well as Health Sciences Libraries, University of St. Thomas, Mayo Clinic, Fairview Health Services, HealthPartners, and the Minnesota Department of Health.

Informatics at the University of Minnesota

The University sees informatics as an important growth area as it strives to reach its goal of becoming one of the top three public research universities in the world. IHI has the strong support of Office of Academic Clinical Affairs, and the University's investment in health informatics is considered a critical building block for future success in clinical sciences, clinical research, and inter-professional education.