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Marchionini appointed to President’s Council on IT

Gary Marchionini, Ph.D., dean of UNC’s School of Information and Library Science, has been appointed to serve on President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Health Information Technology (HIT) Report Workgroup.

The PCAST Workgroup is under the auspices of the Federal Advisory Committees of the HIT Standards Committee and the HIT Policy Committee that advise David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health IT.

The charge of the PCAST Workgroup centers around the PCAST HIT report released in December 2010 entitled, “Report to the President Realizing the Full Potential of Health Information Technology to Improve Healthcare for Americans: The Path Forward.” The 18-member Workgroup will prepare a report for the ONC in April, 2011.

Marchionini specializes in information seeking in electronic environments, human-computer interaction, digital libraries, information design and information policy. His current interests include, among others, interfaces that support information seeking and information retrieval, usability of personal health records and personal identity in cyberspace.

Marchionini, who is also a Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor at UNC, serves on the NC TraCS Institute’s internal advisory board.

For more information see UNC School of Information and Library Science news, February 22, 2011.

Mayer-Davis appointed to President’s Council on health care

Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, Ph.D., professor of nutrition in UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and professor of medicine in the UNC School of Medicine, has been appointed by President Barack Obama to a new health care advisory panel.

The group will develop policy and program recommendations and advise the council on lifestyle-based chronic disease prevention and management, integrative health-care practices and health promotion. Members include health professionals who have expertise in worksite health promotion, community services, preventive medicine, health coaching, public health education, geriatrics and rehabilitation medicine.

Mayer-Davis’ research focuses on diabetes in youth, diabetes prevention and management, and diabetes among African Americans and other minority and underserved populations. She recently was named president of health care and education for the American Diabetes Association.

She is currently principal investigator on an NC TraCS $50K grant studying cell phone use by teens with diabetes to develop interventions that help them manage their condition.

For more information see UNC Gillings School of Global Health news, January 28, 2011.

Weili Lin, Ph.D., appointed Director of the UNC Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC)

Lin has been serving as interim director of the center since July 1, 2010. His research focuses on innovative biomedical applications of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including the use of nanotechnology, brain imaging in cases of cancer, stroke, early brain development and both genetic and developmental brain abnormalities. He is a professor in the Departments of Radiology, Neurology, and Biomedical Engineering at UNC and holds a joint appointment as professor in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. He is also a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and serves as the vice chair of Basic Research, Department of Radiology.

The BRIC was established in 2005 to serve the imaging needs of UNC-Chapel Hill biomedical researchers and to advance the rapidly developing science of biomedical imaging. The center enables a better understanding of disease, including cancer and neurologic diseases and studies the effects of genetic changes on disease development and progression.

Lin used an NC TraCS $50K grant to chart the development of functional brain regions in infants.

From UNC School of Medicine news, February 15, 2011.