Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UC San Diego Health clinical informatics team set the pace with the world's first publication describing EHR optimization for COVID, the first imaging AI tool in production to help identify COVID pneumonia, the first pilot of smartphone exposure notification in California, and the first health system in the United States to issue digital vaccine records. This was followed by several NEJM articles with the first real-world effectiveness study of the COVID vaccines (March 2021), followed by the first United States demonstration of waning effectiveness in healthcare workers (September 2021), prompting the CDC to recommend booster shots for those at high occupational risk.
In this talk, learn the stories behind these accomplishments and how the pandemic catalyzed the UC San Diego Health journey to becoming a learning health system.
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Presenter
Christopher Longhurst MD, MS
Christopher Longhurst MD, MS, is the chief medical officer (CMO) and chief digital officer (CDO) at UC San Diego Health. This dual, complementary role provides leadership to medical staff, ensuring that standards and protocols are in place to provide the highest quality of care to patients. He also serves as the associate dean at the School of Medicine, overseeing and aligning our education and research missions within the clinical environment. He is also a key faculty member in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics and Pediatrics at in the UC San Diego School of Medicine, maintaining an active clinical practice as a newborn hospitalist and pursuing scholarship in care quality, patient safety, and health informatics.
Dr. Longhurst completed his residency at Stanford University and earned his medical degree and MS in medical informatics from UC Davis. He holds a BS in molecular biology from Revelle College at UC San Diego. He is a board-certified pediatrician and clinical informaticist. Dr. Longhurst is an elected fellow of the prestigious American College of Medical Informatics.
Dr. Longhurst is passionate about implementing innovative digital solutions that help improve the patient experience. As the CDO, he leads UC San Diego Health's technology strategy, overseeing initiatives that advance the infrastructure across UC San Diego and the UC Health system.
He is the author and co-author of many publications on using technology and data to improve quality of care.