UConn Health Appoints Dirk Stanley, M.D., as First CMIO to Oversee EMR Implementation Project

The University of Connecticut Health Center (UConn Health), based in Farmington, Conn., has announced the appointment of Dirk Stanley, M.D., as its first Chief Medical Information Officer.

According to a UConn Health press release, Stanley will join the organization in late May as an important addition for the implementation of the electronic medical record (EMR) implementation project.

Previously, Stanley served as CMIO at Cooley-Dickinson Hospital, a 140-bed community hospital in Northampton, Mass.

“We are pleased to have Dr. Stanley on our team given his high-level of experience and success in a similar role,” Jon Carroll, CIO at UConn Health, said in a statement. “What he has accomplished, and experienced, in his eight years at Cooley Dickenson will be vital to us on our EMR journey.”

Stanley will serve both as CMIO, playing an integral role for the Epic implementation and leading the Epic Physician Steering Committee, and as a hospitalist for UConn John Dempsey Hospital. He will report to Carroll and UConn Health’s CEO and executive vice president for health affairs, Andrew Agwunobi, M.D., according to the press release.

“The dual roles, as practicing physician and physician leader, will position Dirk to bring an important, informed physician perspective to this important EMR project,” Agwunobi said in a statement. “His partnership across the organization with leadership, physicians, nursing, support staff, and IT will build and secure an infrastructure that will produce the best EMR roll-out possible for our institution.”

Dirk Stanley, M.D.

Stanley holds a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from New York Medical College, completed his residency in internal medicine at Albany Medical Center, and became a Diplomate of Clinical Informatics for the American Board of Preventative Medicine in 2014.

“I’m very excited to be joining such a talented team of leaders and clinicians in an academic environment,” Stanley said. “I’ve had several great interactions with UConn over the years, and so for me this is a great way to fulfill my mission to bring great technology to the forefront of clinical care. I come from a family with several teachers, I am very passionate about teaching and design, and I hope to bring some of that passion to this role.”

The EMR implementation project is a twenty-three month initiative to unify UConn Health under a single EMR tool. Officially launching this month, the implementation project is governed by a wide and inclusive committee structure designed to give voice to users and their advocates, guidance to staff leading the work and broad fiscal and timely completion oversight and responsibility to the key stakeholders, according to UConn Health officials.