AMIA recognizes the critical importance of fostering the development and discovery of new informatics science as well as the recognition and support of AMIA members who will grow the field and become the next generation of informatics leaders. This talent is nurtured in graduate and doctoral research programs.
The AMIA Doctoral Dissertation Award offers high-value and prestigious recognition for the top doctoral dissertation each year that contributes to the science of informatics in any biomedical application domain or domains. In 2016 JAMIA published some suggested guidelines for the preparation of high-quality dissertations in biomedical informatics:
The organization and content of informatics doctoral dissertations
Award Prize
Doctoral Dissertation Award Prize
- $7,500 cash award to the awardee
- semi-plenary presentation on his/her award-winning research
- Formal award presentation at the AMIA Annual Symposium
- AMIA Annual Symposium registration waived
- travel and accommodation stipend
- publicity
Honorable Mention Prize
- $2,500 cash award to the awardee
- semi-plenary presentation on his/her award winning research
- Formal award presentation at the AMIA Annual Symposium
- AMIA Annual Symposium registration waived
- travel and accommodation stipend
- publicity
Congratulations to the Inaugural Winners of the Award (June 2017):
- Rimma Perotte (Pivovarov), Columbia University [First Prize]
Dissertation: “Electronic Health Record Summarization over Heterogeneous and Irregularly Sampled Clinical Data”
- Yuan Luo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology [Honorable Mention]
Dissertation: “Towards Unified Biomedical Modeling with Subgraph Mining and Factorization Algorithms"
Additional Finalists:
- Genna R. Cohen, University of Michigan:
Dissertation: “Physician Practice Variation in Electronic Health Record Documentation” - Steven G. Johnson, University of Minnesota:
Dissertation: “A Data Quality Framework for the Secondary use of Electronic Health Information” - Azadeh Nikfarjam, Arizona State University:
Dissertation: “Health Information Extraction from Social Media” - Kun-Hsing Yu, Stanford University:
Dissertation: “Integrating Omics and Histopathology Profiles for Precision Medicine”
Funding for the Award
An endowment fund was created to support the Doctoral Dissertation Award in perpetuity. AMIA is grateful to the Charter Donors who offered support for the fund in its formative period (between the AMIA Symposium in 2015 and March 2017). The Campaign was chaired by Dr. Ted Shortliffe (who also offered a 1:1 match for all donations up to $100,000). Additional donations can be made on the AMIA Central donation page.
Task Force and Selection Committee
The AMIA Board has appointed a Task Force that is implementing the AMIA Dissertation Award and will assume responsibility as the initial selection committee in 2017. Members of the committee include:
- Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, FACMI (Chair), College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University
- Russ B. Altman, MD, PhD, FACMI, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Riccardo Bellazzi, PhD, FACMI, University of Pavia, Italy
- John H. Holmes, PhD, FACMI, University of Pennsylvania
- Omolola Ogunyemi, PhD, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science
- Jessica Tenenbaum, PhD, FACMI, Duke University
- Neil Sarkar, PhD, MLIS, FACMI (AMIA Board Liaison), Brown University
- Douglas Fridsma, MD, PhD, FACMI (ex officio), AMIA President
- Jeff Williamson (ex officio), AMIA Vice President, Academic Affairs and Education
The 2018 web site for submission of nominations is now open. Information about eligibility and judging criteria are available on the nominations page. Nomination forms are also available on that page and may be downloaded for offline preparation of a nominations packet. Just be sure that the final nomination materials are uploaded no later than January 31st.
