Bio
Dr. Cole is the Vice President and Chief Global Information Officer for Cornell University. He is responsible for the information technology and services on all campuses of the university and is leading a large multi-year project to integrate IT services across all colleges and departments.
In prior roles at Weill Cornell Medicine, he led the implementation of several clinical and research information systems including outpatient and inpatient EMRs, diagnostic, procedural, and revenue cycle systems.
As part of his academic informatics work, Dr. Cole led the development of Weill Cornell's data dictionary and terminology server called TruData© as well as the clinical data warehouse and i2b2 instance. He has also led several innovations in the uses of standardized vocabulary within EMRs. More recently he focused on the secondary use of EMR data for research and expanding the EHR to support precision medicine and artificial intelligence. His team has developed a novel clinical research data repository service as well as the first live feed of whole exome data into the EMR via a novel clinical genomic information system. This program includes support for the Insight Clinical Data Research Network that combines the clinical data from the major academic medical centers in NYC to support research.
Some of his research activities have included an assessment of processes for reducing transaction costs between payors and providers and an evaluation of the productivity of physicians using an EMR demonstrating the positive impact on visit volume, revenue, and work relative value units (wRVUs). He has also studied prescribing errors, the use of alerts to improve patient safety, and the impact of patient portals. He is especially interested in helping students and faculty develop practical technology solution that improve care. He is an Innovator in Residence at CornellTech where he supports student startups. He is eager to help build collaborations across all campuses. He co-directs the David Rogers Health Policy Colloquium with Dr. Beth McGinty. He also serves on the board of the Medicare Rights Center.