Mary Ellen Sievert, PhD *

Originally trained in English at Emmanuel College and the University of Iowa, Dr. Sievert went on to obtain her masterís degree in library science from the University of Missouri and then a 1985 PhD in educational media and information science from the same institution. She joined the faculty on completing her degree and is now professor in the School of Information Science and Learning Technology and clinical professor in the Department of Health Management and Informatics. Beginning with her work on evaluation of methods for training expert searchers in the early 1980s, Dr. Sievert has systematically examined key factors that affect online access to medical literature. Her groundbreaking work on the comparative effects on information retrieval of electronic full-text, abstracts, titles, and human-assigned subject headings provided data to support or refute a range of hypotheses regarding medical full-text retrieval. Her research on retracted articles, errata notices, and corrected and republished articles will only grow in importance as electronic publishing makes these and other alterations to published articles both more feasible and potentially less noticeable. She has also done important work on the analysis, display, and development of controlled terminologies, including serving as first author of the Thesaurus of Health Informatics. Dr. Sievertís career and accomplishments reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the field of medical informatics. She has published in (and served as a reviewer for) general information science and library science journals as well as in publications directly associated with informatics, medical librarianship, and medicine. People in all of these fields cite her! As a professor, Dr. Sievert has also helped to recruit and educate informatics professionals from a wide range of backgrounds. Dr. Sievert brings to ACMI a broad perspective and expertise in multidisciplinary research and collaboration, the education of informatics professionals, medical information retrieval, journal publication practices, and related ethical issues that are likely to grow in importance in the electronic era.