Joan Ash, PhD

Joan Ash is Associate Professor, Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research, School of Medicine, and Associate Professor, Libraries, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Portland, OR. She received her B.A. degree from Emmanuel College and holds masters degrees in library science, health science, and business administration, from Columbia University, California State University, Northridge, and Portland State University, respectively. Her doctorate is in Systems Science, Business Administration from Portland State. Dr. Ash's prior positions include IAIMS Coordinator at OHSU and Associate Director of OHSU Libraries. She has also served as the Assistant Director at the University of Connecticut Health Center Library and as Senior Reference Librarian at the Yale Medical Library. In addition, Dr. Ash has worked as Director of the OHSU Oral History Project and as an NLM Fellow in Applied Medical Informatics. Dr. Ash's research focus is organizational behavior as it relates to health information system implementation. Her work studying and evaluating the implementation of computerized physician order entry systems and order communication, applying diffusion of innovations theory related to health information systems, and utilizing qualitative methods in informatics has highlighted the importance of the behavioral aspects of systems implementation. She authored the paper that received the first annual Diana Forsythe Award (for work at the intersection of the social sciences and informatics) from the American Medical Informatics Association. Her publications have appeared in journals pertaining to public health, academic libraries, medical libraries, management, and informatics. She has authored a book on health information resources. Professionally, Dr. Ash has been active in the Medical Library Association and the American Medical Informatics Association. She was elected to the board of directors and selected for the journal editorial boards of both. She has served as a member of the Biomedical Library Review Committee of the National Library of Medicine and special emphasis panels for the NIH National Center for Research Resources. She has now been elected to membership in the American College of Medical Informatics.