Health Informatics

The George Mason University College of Health and Human Services is proud to announce the launch of the first stand-alone Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics degree in Virginia. The degree integrates health sciences, information technology, computer science, data science, and behavioral science. This interdisciplinary program is designed to provide graduates with practical, specialized skills in health informatics to improve individual care and public health. 

Grace Buck, a senior studying Health Informatics, has been recognized for her demonstrated leadership and excellence in the areas of health informatics.

A new George Mason University College of Health and Human Services study is one of first individual-level studies to track movements and symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Janusz Wojtusiak led the study—one of the first individual-level studies to track movements and symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Alicia Hong’s current research interests focus on how to effectively apply health information technology in disease prevention and health promotion, particularly on chronic disease management and caregiving. She employs community-engaged user-centered design to develop culturally tailored programs, integrating low-cost digital tools with clinical care to deliver personalized programs that are easy to adopt and sustain in underserved communities, ultimately reducing health disparities.

In a new study, Farrokh Alemi, Janusz Wojtusiak, and Sorina Vlaicu, all of the Department of Health Administration and Policy, along with Raya Elfadel Kheirbek of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Washington, DC and George Washington University’s School of Medicine & Health Sciences, examine whether there is racial disparity in 30-day readmission rates for veterans hospitalized with heart failure.

Dr. Wojtusiak, Professor of Health Informatics and Director of the Machine Learning and Inference Laboratory, has expertise that spans machine learning, health informatics, artificial intelligence in clinical decision support and knowledge discovery in medical data, and a wide range of applications of these fields in health care.

Dr. Yiota Kitsantas, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the Department of Health Administration and Policy, has extensive research experience in the fields of child and maternal health, especially around utilizing data mining techniques to address various public health issues in these populations.