Brigham and Women’s CIO Moves to U-M Health System

Sue Schade, a 12-year CIO at the Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is joining the University of Michigan (U-M) Health System for the same position, the university announced recently. Schade is a long-time veteran of healthcare information technology management, including positions at Advocate Health Care, an integrated delivery system in the Chicago area. At U-M Health System, she will provide direction and oversight for information technology initiatives in U-M hospitals and clinics.

"We’ve accomplished a tremendous amount of work at Brigham and Women’s and I’m excited about the opportunity to start a new chapter at the University of Michigan,” Schade, a Minneapolis native, said in a statement. “I’m pleased to be joining this premier health care system and highly regarded academic medical center. Its mission and agenda for an integrated health care system was a big attraction for me.”

Schade will assume her new role Nov.1. U-M Health System says she joins as the organization has begun a new era, implementing a new HER, MiChart. “Information is at the heart of everything we do in patient care and has become increasingly important during a rapidly changing health care environment,” Doug Strong, CEO, University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, said in a statement.

“Sue comes from an organization that is a leader in health care information technology where she has played a significant leadership role in improving patient care with electronic information. We are very pleased to be able to bring her experiences and leadership capabilities to the U-M Health System.”

Schade holds a master’s degree in business administration from Illinois Benedictine College and has served on the board of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). At Brigham & Women’s, she led efforts to build out and broadly deploy robust internally developed systems in support of patient safety, quality, and cost-reduction goals. She also implemented the Balanced Scorecard initiative, which received national recognition and been viewed as best practice by many provider organizations.