After a “comprehensive national search,” Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center has named Shafiq Rab, M.D., to the post of chief information officer (CIO) and senior vice president, effective Jan. 9, 2017.
Dr. Rab is currently the CIO and senior vice president of information technology at Hackensack University Health Network, in Hackensack, N.J. According to a press release from Rush University Medical Center, since 2012, Rab “has used technology to help grow a single 775-bed hospital into the largest health system in New Jersey, with more than 3,500 patient beds. He also introduced innovations and tools including bedside iPads and the Apple Health Kit, to allow patients and families greater access to their medical records and easier communication with their care teams. His work contributed to improved patient outcomes and experience, and operational efficiencies.”
What’s more, according to the press release, “Rab brought Hackensack University Medical Center to the leading edge of mobile healthcare technology by developing an app that allows patient access to direct appointment scheduling, test results, prescription information and communication with physicians from any device. His team also developed facial recognition technology to accurately match and identify the appropriate patient to his or her data, as well as new technology allowing patients to connect providers to their medical record regardless of the system that doctor uses.”
Also on a personal level, in 2015, Rab was awarded the College of Healthcare Information Management Executive’s (CHIME) Innovator of the Year Award. Prior to Hackensack, from 2008 to 2012, Rab was vice president and CIO at Greater Hudson Valley Health System in New York, where he led the system’s successful implementation of electronic medical records software.
“I am very excited to welcome Shafiq Rab to Rush,” Michael Dandorph, president of Rush University Medical Center, said in a statement. “His extensive professional experience combined with his unique medical and public health background is a perfect fit with our mission and vision.”
He added, “Shafiq will help Rush use information technologies in creative, new ways that improve and expand our patients’ and the public’s many interactions with Rush physicians and staff. His clinical and public health expertise will help Rush to use technology to grow in its mission to improve the health of the individuals and diverse communities it serves.”
