Otto Rienhoff, MD, FACMI

Otto Rienhoff is Professor of Medical Informatics, and head of the Medical Informatics Division and the Hospital Computer Center of Gˆttingen University. He received a Medical Doctorate degree from the University of M¸nster Medical School in 1973. In 1980, he received a complementary degree as a specialist in Medical Informatics from the Physicians Chamber of Lower Saxony. From 1985 to 1994, Dr. Rienhoff was a full Professor of Medical Informatics at the University of Marburg. While in that position he was responsible for establishing a Center for Medical Biometry and Informatics. Dr. Rienhoff served as President of the Deutsche Gesellschaft f¸r Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (GMDS) e. V. (German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology) in 1993 and 1995. He served as President of the International Medical Informatics Association from 1995 to 1998, and has chaired the German working group: Health Professional Card. Dr. Rienhoff is Chair of the Coordination Committee for IT Solutions of Medical Research Networks of the Federal Ministry of Research. Dr. Rienhoff has contributed to the field of Medical Informatics significantly in the areas applicability of new information technologies in health care, analysis of the influence of expert systems and online services on patients and health professionals, digital signatures and trusted third parties in health care, legal aspects of electronic patient records, quality management in medicine, and virtual reality in diagnostics and therapy. In 1983, Dr. Rienhoff was Guest Lecturer at the Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town. He is a founding member of the National Committee on Classification Systems in Healthcare and a member of the German G-7 kernel Global Healthcare Applications. Dr. Rienhoff has participated in the High Performance Computing and Communication Program and Source Selection Advisory Group for the National Library of Medicine.