Oral History Project
The Institute for Health Informatics History Project captures, analyzes, and records the history of health informatics at the University of Minnesota. Through oral history interviews, the Project preserves the personal stories of faculty members and National Library of Medicine administrators who were involved in the early history of the field and have keen insights into the history of health informatics at the University of Minnesota.
Constantin Aliferis
Constantin Aliferis begins by discussing his educational background, including his early interest in biomedical and health informatics. He describes the main focus of his research since graduate school, which has included machine learning and the…
Bruce Blazar
Dr. Blazar begins by discussing the establishment of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Translational Medicine and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the relationship between the two centers. He next goes on to describe the…
Frank Cerra
In this excerpt from part two of a three-part interview for the Academic Health Center Oral History Project, Dr. Cerra discusses the events leading to the establishment of the Institute for Health Informatics.
Christopher Chute
Christopher Chute begins by discussing his educational background and his decision to move to the Mayo Clinic in the late 1980s. Next, he discusses some of the health informatics research and educational projects that the Mayo Clinic and the University…
Don Connelly
Donald Connelly begins by discussing his educational background, including his early interest in biomedical computing. He describes his first years in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology including the state of computing in laboratories in…
Milton Corn
Milton Corn begins the interview discussing the definition of health informatics and the early National Library of Medicine Research Training in Medical Informatics programs, including the University of Minnesota’s training program. Dr. Corn describes…
Lynda Ellis
Lynda Ellis begins by discussing her educational background and her arrival at the University of Minnesota. She describes her first years in the Division of Health Computer Sciences, the atmosphere of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology,…
Stan Finkelstein
Stanley Finkelstein begins by discussing his educational background and his arrival at the University of Minnesota. He describes at length his research in the field of home monitoring and telehealth, including his research with Jay N. Cohn on the…
Marty LaVenture
Marty LaVenture begins by discussing his educational background in public health, epidemiology, and health informatics. He describes his experiences working as an assistant state epidemiologist in Wisconsin where he was in charge of developing…