National Institute for Health Innovation (NIHI)

Prof James (“Jim”) Warren
Professor
Room: 730-357
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x 86422
Email: jr.warren@auckland.ac.nz

Jim is the Chair of Health Informatics based at the School of Population Health in Tamaki Campus. His computer science and information systems background provide a technical grounding for his research and teaching, which doesn’t stop him from including the people who use health informatics tools in his research. He is the programme convenor for the PGDip in Health Sciences, Health Informatics and delivers the courses in Principles of Health Informatics, and Healthcare Decision Support Systems.

As Chief Scientist for the National Institute for Health Innovation, Jim brings his scientific and technical perspective to the Institute’s activities.

His research interests include consumer informatics, usability, chronic condition management using health informatics tools, and interoperability. “Without interoperability we’re unable to realise the full value of informatics on the successful delivery of healthcare in our country,” says Jim.

Malcolm Pollock
NIHI Establishment Director
Email: m.pollock@auckland.ac.nz

Malcolm is our intrepid Director of the National Institute for Health Innovation, bringing together interested people to create innovative technology for use in healthcare. He connects people from diverse backgrounds and interests, drawing together threads of creativity to be realised in the Institute environment. His position as Chair of the Health IT Cluster, history of successful project management and marketing activities give the Institute a business perspective.

Dr Martin Orr
Honorary Clinical Snr Lecturer
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x 83870
Email: m.orr@auckland.ac.nz

While Jim is the Chief Scientist, the technical lead for the Institute, Martin is the Clinical Director of the Institute, providing a clinical perspective on what we do. He is a practising psychiatrist, keeping his hand in the clinical world to keep the Institute’s activities ‘real’. Martin is also the Clinical Director for Information Services at Waitemata District Health Board, which gives him the opportunity to connect innovative people together and draw them to the Institute to complete the excellent innovations they create.

Martin is also a Senior Lecturer in Health Knowledge Management, which is the focus of his research interests (including change management, the development of knowledge systems in healthcare, and how people adapt to innovations in the workplace). Martin and Karen are the co-convenors of the Health Knowledge Management course in the PGDip Health Sciences, Health Informatics.

Dr Karen Day
Lecturer, Health Informatics
Room: 730-361
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x 83870
Email: k.day@auckland.ac.nz

As a Comprehensive Nurse, Karen brings a clinical perspective to the Postgraduate Diploma in Health and her research in change management linked to health IT projects. She is a Lecturer in Health Informatics and the convenor of the undergraduate course in Health Informatics which forms part of the Bachelor of Health Sciences. She is also co-convenor with Martin on the Health Knowledge Management course.

Karen’s research interests include how people adapt to innovations in the healthcare workplace, leadership in changing times, how informatics changes clinical roles, and the importance of learning in health IT projects.

Dr Chris Paton
Research Fellow, Health Informatics
Room: 730-356
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x 83383
Email: c.paton@auckland.ac.nz

Chris trained as a medical doctor in the UK. Since moving to New Zealand he has been researching the use of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software and has a keen interest in the use of technology in medical education.

Steve Wood
Operations Manager, NIHI
Room: 730-359
Email: s.wood@auckland.ac.nz

Steve is an experienced IT industry veteran and has worked on a wide range of complex IT projects internationally. He now manages operations for NIHI’s projects.

Guocai (Jose) Chen
PhD Student.

Jose is analysing the text of health consumer discussions to determine how computer algorithms can detect changes in self-image. This will be applied to provide tools to support the facilitation of online discussion groups where people discuss their experiences in coping with chronic illness.
Yulong (Helen) Gu, PhD Student. Helen is investigating the use of workflow and groupware technologies to improve knowledge management in clinical genetic testing.

Thusitha Mabotuwana
PhD Student

Thusitha is looking at the representation of evidence-based care plans and the alignment of electronic prescribing data to those plans for quality assurance.

Yulong (Helen) Gu
PhD Student

Helen is investigating the use of workflow and groupware technologies to improve knowledge management in clinical genetic testing.