AMIA awardees Isaac Kohane and Alexa McCray codirected DBMI's precursor, the Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI) at HMS, from 2005 to 2015. The center then transitioned to an academic department and continues to be chaired by Kohane. They are pictured here at the celebration of our launch in 2015.
The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) will be presenting its annual awards at the AMIA 2020 Virtual Annual Symposium during its virtual awards gala on Sunday, November 15, at 8pm. Two of these honors will go to HMS leaders who made formation of the Department of Biomedical Informatics possible: Isaac (Zak) Kohane and Alexa McCray.
Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence to Isaac Kohane
The award Kohane will receive is considered equivalent to a Nobel Prize in biomedical informatics. In honor of Morris F. Collen, a pioneer in the field of medical informatics, this prestigious award is presented to an individual whose personal commitment and dedication to medical informatics has made a lasting impression on the field. The award is determined by the Awards Committee of the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI).
“The Morris F. Collen Award is only awarded to the most distinguished informaticians. ACMI is honored to recognize Dr. Kohane for his substantial accomplishments to the field of biomedical informatics,” said ACMI President, William M. Tierney, MD, FACMI, FIAHSI, Professor and Chair, Department of Population Health, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin. “Dr. Kohane has revolutionized many areas of biomedical informatics and has changed the way we practice patient care delivery. He is also an incredibly generous and gifted mentor offering guidance to more than 50 formal trainees, many of whom are ACMI Fellows.”