Charles P. Friedman is a medical health informatician and educator, and an academic. He is a professor in the Department of Learning Health Sciences at the

University of Michigan Medical School The University of Michigan Medicine (branded as Michigan Medicine) is the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It consists of the university's Medical School, affiliated hos ...

. Friedman's research focuses on

biomedical Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

and health informatics, as well as the processes of

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and learning. Friedman is a distinguished fellow of the

American College of Medical Informatics The American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) is a college of elected fellows from the United States and abroad who have made significant and sustained contributions to the field of medical informatics. Initially incorporated in 1984, the o ...

, and a founding fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics.

Education

Friedman completed his B.S. in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

in 1971 from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT). He obtained his

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

in Physics from MIT in the same year and in 1977, earned his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Education from

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. In 1992, he undertook advanced studies in Medical Information Science at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Career

Friedman began his academic career in 1971 as a staff scientist at MIT and visiting lecturer at the Department of Physics at the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the Public university, public university system of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

where he remained until 1974. In 1977, he joined the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina, first as an assistant professor and later as an associate and full professor, and remained there until 1996. He was professor at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

between 1996 and 2006 and then joined the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 2011 where he was appointed as professor at the Schools of Information and Public Health. From 2014 to 2024, he was the Josiah Macy Jr. Professor of Medical Education and the founding chair of the Department of Learning Health Sciences. From 2007 to 2009, he was deputy national coordinator for Health Information Technology, a division of the

US Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

. In 2009, he was appointed the chief scientific officer of the division and remained at the position until 2011. Since 2015, he has been editor-in-chief of the journal ''Learning Health Systems''.

Research

Friedman's work on learning health systems (LHS) emphasized the potential of a dynamic, data-driven approach to

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

and

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

improvement. He suggested that the effective use of

electronic health records An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of electronically stored patient and population health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared thro ...

(EHRs) could transform raw medical data into structured, computable information and change patient care outcomes. He also highlighted that the achievement of a nation-wide LHS required an IT-enabled socio-technical infrastructure as well as active participation from multiple and diverse stakeholders. Friedman's research also focused on interactions between

providers Provider may refer to: * A supplier * Health care provider, an individual or institution that provides health care services * Internet service provider, a business or organization that offers access to the Internet and related services * Provide ...

, patients, and information technology, exploring the degree to which information resources provide advice that is helpful in addition to being correct. To clarify the goal of biomedical informatics, he presented a theorem which stated that biomedical informatics resources should strive to make people better than they would be without assistance from these resources.

Awards and honors

*1992 – Elected Fellow, American College of Medical Informatics *2010 – Secretarial Achievement Award,

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Im ...

*2012 – Donald Detmer Award for Policy Innovation in Informatics, American Medical Informatics Association *2017 – Inaugural Fellow, International Academy for Health Science Informatics *2021 – Honorary Doctorate in Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne, Switzerland *2022 – Distinguished Fellow, American College of Medical Informatics

Bibliography

Books

*''Evaluation Methods in Medical Informatics (Computers and Medicine)'' Third Edition (2022) ISBN 9783030864521

Selected articles

* * * * * * *

References

External links

* American academics 21st-century American academics Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of Michigan faculty University of Pittsburgh faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill people Medical records Health care software Health informatics Health care Medical technology {{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Charles Year of birth missing (living people) Living people