Thomas Delbert East, PhD

Thomas D. East, Ph.D. received his Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree in Physics (Magna Cum Laude) from John Carroll University, University Heights, OH. He completed his Masters of Engineering in Bioengineering and PhD in Bioengineering (both with an emphasis in medical informatics) from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. He did 17 years of research and teaching at the University of Utah with multiple faculty appointments (Assistant and Associate Professor with Tenure in Anesthesiology, Associate Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Research Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering). He then transitioned into health IT executive leadership for the next 23 years. During this time he held positions with Intermountain Health Care (Medical Informatics Director). The Alaska Native Tribal Health Medical Center and Consortium (CIO) and SYNCRONYS, the NM health information exchange (CEO and CIO). For the last 9 years he has also been Adjunct Faculty with the University of New Mexico. He has research interests in human computer interaction; HIT as a foundation for implementing SDOH closed loop referral; “smarter” EHRs that synthesize vast amounts of information into an effective data set to support high quality and safe treatment decisions; health information exchanges and interoperability for public health and population health; and clinical decision support as an essential tool for a leaning health system.