Center for Biomedical Informatics Research and Innovation offers opportunities

When the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the Center for Biomedical Informatics Research and Innovation at its April meeting, it was the culmination of two decades of significant progress in developing biomedical informatics (BMI) infrastructure at both UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

Babu Guda, PhD, professor in the UNMC Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy and chief bioinformatics and research computing officer at UNMC, and Ann Fruhling, PhD, professor of interdisciplinary informatics within UNO’s College of Information Science & Technology, will serve as co-directors of the center.

“Biomedical informatics has become indispensable to almost all types of biomedical research, from basic science to clinical and public health science,” said Jennifer Larsen, MD, vice chancellor for research at UNMC. “This comprehensive center, focused on biomedical informatics education and research, will quickly link faculty to the biomedical informatics resources and expertise they need. Under the strong leadership of Drs. Guda and Fruhling, the CBIRI will facilitate collaboration in all types of biomedical and health sciences, allowing the center to have not just regional but a national impact.”

The center aims to open doors for additional biomedical informatics research and discoveries; sharing and collaboration of personnel and resources across campuses and disciplines; and competition for a new Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant.

The center will allow strategic planning, improve communication and coordination and streamline collaboration opportunities for all types of activities related to biomedical informatics, including bioinformatics, clinical informatics and public health informatics, Dr. Guda said.

“Different components of this center have been in development for 10 years or more on both campuses,” Dr. Guda said. “Now, the center will serve as a centralized hub for all that activity. With the center, we can combine our efforts to serve as the face of biomedical informatics for the NU system on a national level.”

Positioning the University of Nebraska system to become a nationally recognized leader in biomedical informatics, the center will align BMI education, research and resources across both campuses and keep NU on the cutting edge of evolving technology to fully utilize “Big Data” in the realms of health sciences research.

The center currently will be housed virtually, and a website is being created and a seminar series featuring nationally recognized experts in the informatics field is being planned.

“This is something I am very excited about and have been looking forward to,” Dr. Guda said. “We can do a lot of big things now that we have the center — this is a new beginning, and we already have plans.”