Amy M. Sitapati Recognized with Medical Informatics Award

The health care environment is evolving almost daily. In many cases, artificial intelligence (AI) is driving some of those changes and offering new opportunities for access to safe, high-quality, affordable and equitable care. University of California San Diego School of Medicine’s Amy Sitapati, M.D., clinical professor of medicine in the Divisions of Biomedical Informatics and General Internal Medicine, is a recognized expert in looking at how AI and standardization can accelerate improvements in health care that advance the common good.

Sitapati, who is also the chief medical information officer for UC San Diego Health and the Lawrence S. Friedman Professor of Population Health for the School of Medicine, recently received the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) Award for Excellence, Outstanding Achievement and Special Recognition in Applied Medical Informatics, for her current body of work.

“Today’s environment is all about health AI. Automation and artificial intelligence can push the envelope on improving health and help the doctors deliver better care,” said Sitapati.

When asked about her inspiration to pursue biomedical informatics, she said “The ability to scale impact is awe inspiring. You can write orders for 20,000 people at once and design tools that help provide the best patient care. This is health care of the future–unifying our data ecosystem to support better care for patients every time they come to see us.”

Founded in 1997, AMDIS is the premier professional organization for physicians interested in and responsible for health care information technology. The annual award for excellence recognizes individuals and organizations that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field. Specifically, it honors those who have successfully integrated information systems and technology into medical practice.

“This award recognizes contributions to applied informatics,” said Howard Landa, M.D. chair of the AMDIS advisory board, “One of most important aspects is sharing one person’s experience with the community. Medicine is the original open-source knowledge system. We don't hoard, we share; we don't patent, we publish. For many years, Dr. Sitapati has been a huge advocate for the clinical informatics of population health, health equity and social determinants. She is an enthusiastic educator, and I have had the pleasure of watching her lead educational activities at AMDIS, the American Medical Informatics Association and other venues, participating in lectures, webinars, podcasts and 1:1 mentoring. It is truly a pleasure for AMDIS to honor her.”

Sitapati credits her success to contributions from friends and family and their ongoing support. “I am humbled receiving this award,” she said. “National awards that come from world experts in a field produces a feeling of humility. We stand on the shoulders of giants from people like Larry Weed to modern data visionaries like the late Atul Butte. This award means that my peers find that our shared ideas, collaboration, and compassion in medicine will apply innovation to have that impact.”