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Voting open for Clinical Informatics Leadership Award
16 October 2019
Voting is open to select the winner of the inaugural Clinical Informatics Leadership Award.
The three finalists for the 2019 award are; David Ryan, IS clinical change manager, Waitematā DHB; Rebecca George, clinical lead allied health informatics Canterbury DHB; and Robyn Whittaker, associate professor at the National Institute for Health Innovation and clinical director innovation at Waitematā DHB’s Institute for Innovation and Improvement (i3).
People have until 5pm October 31 to place their vote for the winner, who will be announced on 20 November 2019 during Digital Health Week NZ.
The winner will receive up to $5000 to attend an international conference of their choice, with the support of Spark Health.
Three judges selected the finalists from 16 nominations from across New Zealand.
Judge, HiNZ board chair and academic rheumatologist Rebecca Grainger says the quality and influence of the leadership displayed by the nominees was remarkable.
“This leadership has been driving work aimed at improving the health of New Zealanders and the efficiency and effectiveness of health care practitioners and the teams they work in,” she says.
Ryan has led and developed a team to successfully implement a number of in-house and externally developed electronic systems at Waitematā DHB and has played a vital role in managing the clinical change process.
His nomination says, “(Ryan) has the uncanny ability to identity areas where there are opportunities to further improve the experience for clinicians and patients and he works hard to create solutions that achieve this”.
George has been instrumental in leading allied health in the informatics space across New Zealand, including as chair of the National Allied Health Informatics Group and as a member of the Health Information Standards Organisation (HISO).
Her nominatation described the impact George has had nationally as “phenomenal”, saying she has “created an up swell of interest in data and digital across the allied health community.”
Alongside her work at i3 and NIHI, Whittaker chairs the Northern Region’s Health System Design Council and is a national leader with membership on multiple groups including the NZ Telehealth Leadership Group, Digital Investment Group and national EHR group.
Her nomination says, “the impact of this leadership is wide-spread and immense, guiding the future of New Zealand’s digital health system.”
The Clinical Informatics Leadership Network (CiLN) worked in partnership with Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) to launch the award to recognise and raise the profile of clinical leaders working in digital health.
HiNZ is giving all three finalists a free pass to Digital Health Week NZ 2020 and a speaking slot for the winner.
Says Grainger: “health informatics in New Zealand is in good health and the future is bright with these outstanding individuals leading the way.”
The other members of the judging panel were Ministry of Health deputy director data and digital Shayne Hunter and HiNZ board member and chief executive of Auckland Eye Ltd Deb Boyd.
Read the finalists’ profiles:
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