The Cleveland Clinic is seeing a revolution in information technology with the rollout of an ambulatory electronic medical record system, creation of the Center for Online Medical Education and Training (COMET) and initiatives like e-Cleveland Clinic and Disease Management Project. These exciting developments offer ample areas for research into the role of EMRs in improving health care delivery and the use of computers and the Internet in education and training. The fellowship program is geared towards providing the trainee with all the skills and tools required to design and implement a major research project in one of these areas.

This is a 1- 2 years fellowship in medical informatics concluding with a research thesis in the area of interest to the fellow. Applicants should have completed an ACGME accredited residency program and have a strong interest in informatics and research.

After completion of the fellowship the graduate will have the skills to be a leader in a healthcare organization by:

1. Advising on and overseeing the development of Web strategies for the organization in areas of:
   • Online (Intranet and Internet based) education for both patients and providers
   • Communication protocols between providers and between patients and providers.
   • Patient care delivery.
2. By serving as a clinician leader on an Information Technology (IT – Electronic Medical Record and Online training) advisory team
   • Helping an institution develop and improve its technical and operational IT infrastructure
   • Helping to develop an institution’s IT policies.
   • Helping to define HIPAA compliant security strategies.
3. Promoting interest enthusiasm and encouragement for clinician use of IT.
4. Acting as a bridge between clinical and IT personnel.

In addition to a core curriculum in areas of medical informatics, the fellow will take several courses (Clinical Research, Scientific Writing and Patient-Provider communications) offered at the Cleveland Clinic for staff and physicians-in-training through the instructional affiliation of CCF and Cleveland State University with the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM).