Dr. Karima Lalani joined the UW’s Department of Health Systems and Population Health in September as assistant teaching professor, and in January, she took over the role of program director of the Health Informatics and Health Information Management (HIHIM) program, where she leads both the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. Prior to joining the University of Washington, Karima was an assistant professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, and assistant director of the Center for Health Systems Analytics at UTHealth Houston.
Before entering the field of HIHIM, Dr. Lalani worked in the energy industry. The pivot to health informatics positioned her to utilize her skills in business administration, finance, information technology, and project management in a new and robust way. “HIHIM is a unique field which lies at the intersection of healthcare, information technology, and business”, she notes.
As author or co-author of 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, Dr. Lalani is a notable researcher whose work has appeared in high-impact journals, including the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and JMIR Medical Education. Research and interdisciplinary collaboration were a driving factor in her decision to join the UW School of Public Health (SPH). “I believe that interprofessional collaboration is vital for providing safe, efficient, equitable patient care, and improving population health outcomes, and health informatics is the key to reaching that optimal state”, said Lalani. This collaboration is evident in her additional work with the Digital Initiative Group at I-TECH, on a project within the UW Department of Global Health, assisting Africa CDC in developing the curriculum for its novel Africa Epidemic Service – Public Health Informatics (AES-PHI) fellowship program.
“It is the health informatics and health information management professionals who ensure the quality, integrity, availability, and security of health information needed for clinical decisions.”
-Dr. Karima Lalani, PhD
Looking towards her first year as the HIHIM Program Director, Dr. Lalani intends to seek guidance from students, faculty, staff, and alumni so she can “continue to build and sustain our two stellar HIHIM degree programs at the UW SPH.” Both HIHIM degree programs are highly regarded within the WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho), and have a long track record of providing a quality curriculum and maintaining a faculty of academic and industry experts. The Master of Health Informatics and Health Information Management (MHIHIM) is the only continuously CAHIIM-accredited MHIHIM degree in the WWAMI region, and the bachelor’s program is the oldest, continuously CAHIIM-accredited bachelor’s degree of HIHIM in the WWAMI region.
“The healthcare field continues to become increasingly dependent upon data, information analysis, and technology, and it is evolving rapidly. It is the health informatics and health information management professionals who ensure the quality, integrity, availability, and security of health information needed for clinical decisions.” Ultimately, Dr. Lalani believes, “health information professionals are in a unique position to advance healthcare access and improve population health outcomes.”