Joanna Abraham, PhD, FACMI, FAMIA, Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Institute for Informatics, Data Science and Biostatistics (I2DB), has been named the 2023 recipient of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)’s Diana Forsythe Award. The award was presented during the AMIA Annual Symposium on Nov. 11 – 15.
This award honors either a peer-reviewed AMIA paper published in the Proceedings of the Annual Symposium or peer-reviewed article published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association or other journals publishing medical informatics-related content that best exemplifies the spirit and scholarship of Diana Forsythe’s work at the intersection of informatics and social sciences.
The winning paper, “Articulation of postsurgical patient discharges: coordinating care transitions from hospital to home,” co-authored by Madhumitha Kandasamy and Ashley Huggins, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA). The paper explores postsurgical discharges for cardiac patients, identifying interdependencies in preparation, education, and follow-up care. Emphasizing the crucial role of behind-the-scenes work by clinicians, the study suggests evidence-based strategies to enhance care coordination, reduce readmissions, and improve patient satisfaction during transitions from hospital to home.
This is the second time Dr. Abraham received the award in three years. She last received the award in 2021 for her paper “Moving Patients from Emergency Department to Medical Intensive Care Unit: Tracing Barriers and Root Contributors,” published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics.