Kevin Johnson, M.D., M.S., Vanderbilt’s ‘Informatician-in-Chief,’ Takes New Position at Penn
Kevin Johnson, M.D., M.S., Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), professor of Pediatrics, and Informatician-in-Chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will depart the organization on Nov. 1 to join the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and Perelman School of Medicine.
When he served as chief informatics officer, Johnson helped steer VUMC’s transition from a legacy clinical information technology (StarPanel) to the Epic-based clinical platform eStar, which went live in 2017. The size and scale of eStar’s implementation mae it the most significant infrastructure change in VUMC’s history.
Johnson is widely known for his expertise in clinical informatics, with research in e-prescribing, medication safety, computer-based documentation and health information exchange, and a focus on pediatrics. He has the distinction of having produced a feature-length documentary about health information exchange that has been screened at the Nashville Film Festival.
As a member of the LGBTQ and African-American communities, Johnson has been a visible presence in VUMC’s efforts to increase diversity and inclusion and has marked a number of important milestones for a Medical Center senior leader.
Johnson will join the University of Pennsylvania as a Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, vice president for applied informatics in the University of Pennsylvania Health System and director of a new center combining applied informatics, communication and equitable innovations that improve healthcare.
He will have faculty appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics and Informatics with the Perelman School of Medicine, as well as the Department of Computer Science within the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
“Kevin Johnson is a gifted physician-scientist who has harnessed and aligned the power of medicine, engineering, and technology to improve the health of individuals and communities,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann in a statement. “He has championed the development and implementation of clinical information systems and artificial intelligence to drive medical research, encouraged the effective use of technology at the bedside, and empowered patients to use new tools to better understand how medications and supplements may affect their health. He is a board-certified pediatrician, and his commitment to patient health and welfare knows no age limits. In so many different settings, Kevin’s work is driving progress in patient care and improving our health care system. He is a perfect fit for Penn, where our goal is to create a maximally inclusive and integrated academic community to spur unprecedented global impact.”
Johnson also will join the faculty at the Annenberg School for Communication to pursue his passion for the communication of science. He will serve as a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and will be a Senior Scientist in the Annenberg Creative Message Effects Lab.
Johnson is a widely published author and popular invited speaker in the fields of biomedical informatics and pediatrics. He also serves in leadership roles and on committees for multiple national professional associations and organizations including the American College of Medical Informatics, American Pediatric Society, National Academy of Medicine (Leadership Consortium) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
