Welcome to BIME
Welcome to the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education.
Our vision is to unleash the potential for information to improve biomedicine, health and medical education. We do this via a three-pronged approach leveraging the bidirectional synergies between a) basic and applied research, b) training the next generation of researchers and practitioners, and c) applying our expertise to the broader operations of UW Medicine including research, clinical care and medical education through the practice of Biomedical Informatics and the practice of Medical Education and Evaluation. See our News and Events page for current activities.
Cordially,
Peter Tarczy-Hornoch, MD
Chair and Professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education
News Highlights
BIME Welcomes New Chief Data Officer
The University of Washington is delighted to announce that Yuan Luo, PhD, FACMI, FAIMBE, FAMIA, FIAHSI, will be joining the University of Washington as a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education (BIME). In addition to being a core BIME faculty member, he will serve as Chief Data Officer for UW Medicine and Associate Vice President for Data, Analytics and AI Integration for UW Medicine, with a focus on clinical transformation reporting to Alexander Chiu, MD, Executive Vice Dean and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs.
“I am honored and excited to join the University of Washington, BIME and UW Medicine at a time when data, analytics, and AI are becoming central to the future of health care, research, education, and operational transformation,” says Dr. Luo. “UW has extraordinary strengths across medicine, biomedical informatics, computer science, population health, and translational research. I look forward to working with colleagues across the enterprise to build practical, responsible, and high-impact data and AI capabilities that advance UW Medicine’s mission.”
Dr. Luo is currently a Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chief AI Officer for the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and the Institute for AI in Medicine, and Founding Director of the Center for Collaborative AI in Healthcare. He is a nationally recognized leader in healthcare AI, biomedical informatics, and clinical and translational data science. He has served as Co-Chair of the Standards Working Group on the PCORI Methodology Committee, a member of the National Quality Forum’s AI in Quality Measures Technical Expert Panel, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Medical Informatics Association.
During his time at Northwestern, Dr. Luo has led major NIH-funded research programs, cross-institutional collaborations, as well as data and AI governance and strategy efforts. His work has advanced collaborative infrastructure and programs including the CRITICAL consortium, the SOAR platform, the Healthcare AI Forum, and the AI4H Clinics. He has also mentored faculty, trainees, and research teams while contributing to national leadership in biomedical informatics and healthcare AI.
Dr. Tarczy-Hornoch, Chair of BIME and outgoing Chief Data Officer for UW Medicine says, “We are delighted to have Dr. Luo join UW bringing deep expertise in biomedical informatics, data science and AI. He will further extend the breadth and depth of the expertise of the current faculty in BIME in biomedical informatics, computing, data science and AI. This is particularly critical today with a key objective of the UW Strategic Framework being UW and UW Medicine lead in the responsible development and use of big data, AI and other emerging technologies to advance next-generation healthcare. Dr. Luo in his CDO and AVP roles will join a collaboration of faculty and leaders focused on this objective across UW, UW Medicine, BIME, the Institute for Medical Data Science, the Institute for Translational Health Sciences, and UW Medicine Information Technology Services.”
“Dr. Luo’s appointment comes at an important moment for UW Medicine as we accelerate the responsible use of data, analytics, and AI to improve care delivery, support discovery, and strengthen our operations,” says Eric Neil, Chief Information Officer for UW Medicine. “His leadership will advance us on our journey to turn data into meaningful improvements for patients, clinicians, researchers, and the communities we serve.”
Alexander Chiu, MD, Executive Vice Dean and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs adds, “Dr. Luo’s appointment as Associate Vice President for Data, Analytics and AI Integration represents a pivotal step forward for UW Medicine. His deep expertise in data science, clinical informatics, and AI strategy will drive us to modernize how we structure, govern, and activate our data—creating a more unified, accessible, and high-impact enterprise data foundation that strengthens our readiness for AI. This work will accelerate our ability to deploy AI at scale, unlocking capabilities that enable clinical transformation, and support operational excellence across UW Medicine’s broader business functions.”