Peter Tarczy-Hornoch, MD

A 1985 graduate of Stanford University, Dr. Tarczy-Hornoch majored in biology but had already developed an interest in medical informatics. He maintained his interest and involvement during his years at Stanford Medical School and, after a pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota, moved to the University of Washington (UW), where he remains to this day. His neonatology fellowship from 1992 to 1995 did not prevent him from continuing to pursue his interest in medical informatics, and by 1995, he was playing the role of Clinical Informatics Lead on the University of Washington IAIMS grant. After joining the faculty in 1995, he assumed increasing responsibility for the nascent informatics program at UW, serving as Chair of the Curriculum Committee, Director of the Genetics Informatics Group, and currently as Program Director of their NLM Training Program in Biomedical and Health Informatics. Nationally, he served as Chair of the AMIA Genomics Working Group and helped found the IMIA Informatics in Genomic Medicine Working Group that he cochairs. As an undergraduate, Dr. Tarczy-Hornoch had formed his own software company (Sigma Medical Software, which specialized in software for biomedical instrumentation and decision support) and served as a key programmer on the Pathfinder project, a collaborative project that was later commercialized as Intellipath. Subsequently, after completing his house staff training, he pressed to create MINDscape, a Webbased EMR integrating access to knowledge sources and diverse clinical systems. Emerging as a prominent scientist working at the intersection of bioinformatics and clinical informatics Dr. Tarczy-Hornoch has received numerous grants for work at this interface including his work on the GeneTests genetic testing resource and the BioMediator (formerly GeneSeek) biomedical data integration system. Dr. Tarczy-Hornoch has led the development of the UW Division of Biomedical and Health Informatics since 2001. Under his leadership, the UW informatics faculty has grown significantly, a PhD program has been approved, the program has received permanent funding from the UW, and the NLM has funded a UWinformatics training grant. Unquestionably, the stature of biomedical and health informatics at UW has grown significantly as a result of Dr. Tarczy-Hornochís inspired leadership. He has the ability to express a vision and convey it persuasively to both researchers and clinicians.