Making a Difference: Careers in Health Informatics addresses everyday questions from people interested in working in health informatics. Typically this includes professionals in health care, computer and technology fields, information science, finance / insurance and related areas and students about what jobs exist in the health informatics field, what credentials they need to qualify for those jobs, and a brief description about what people in those roles tend to do everyday. As faculty members teaching in a Masters' of Science in Health Informatics program, they are fortunate to have eager, bright and talented graduate students who are invested in related health informatics areas, whether it is through their experiences in medicine, nursing, clinical care, software engineering, finance, business, library science, data science, or caregiving. However, common questions we hear from our students include: 'what jobs are out there?', 'what can I do with this degree?' or 'what does a health informatics specialist do?' This book aims to answer some of these questions with a look into what career options exist in health informatics, including their roles and responsibilities, and expectations on a daily basis. The book is unique in the sense that it brings together an assessment of current job roles across a variety of stakeholders including health care settings, payer organizations, and health information technology companies. Professionals in health informatics add clarity, insight and direction in a healthcare landscape that can be overwhelmed by data. Those working in health informatics help organizations to manage and navigate data to inform decision making and strategy. The hope is that this book will add insight into career opportunities students and professionals may be qualified for, and interested in, but simply not aware of. And, if they are interested in a specific role, they can tailor their education and training to focus on the skill set necessary for the role. Moreover, by providing a description of these job roles in complementary stakeholder groups, students and professionals may gain perspective on how informatics can make a difference in addressing today's salient health issues for individuals, organizations, and clinicians. Additionally, ways of promoting online presence and possible lifelong learning opportunities will be discussed. This book aims to help students and professionals interested in making a career change to understand the field of health informatics by examining professional roles in demand, what kinds of jobs are available, what skill sets they need, why it is necessary, what life is like on a daily basis, how to improve one's abilities, and how to maintain consistent competitiveness through one's professional career. Employers across the stakeholder groups may also find the book helpful in learning about other roles that may benefit their organizations.

Rebecca Meehan, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Information at Kent State University, where she teaches in both the Health Informatics (HI) and User Experience Design (UXD) programs. Dr. Meehan is a health informaticist with over 20 years of experience in applied research in health and aging. Her interests center on improving patient safety outcomes by improving the user experience of health information technology, and sociotechnical approaches to improving health outcomes for a diverse cultural population. Dr. Meehan's work in academic research is complemented by industry knowledge in software development having worked as a product manager and usability researcher for Intuit, Inc, a fortune 500 company, for global enterprise level software systems. She has also consulted independently on usability projects for U.S. and global clients in healthcare and wellness. These experiences allow her to bring a unique perspective for her students and research as having both academic and industry experience in health information research. Her previous experience includes senior research roles with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Department of Sociology, Myers Research Institute of Menorah Park Center for Senior Living, and Innovative Designs in Environments for an Aging Society (IDEAS, Inc.). Dr. Meehan earned a B.S. in Biology at St. Mary's College and then went on to Case Western Reserve University for both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Medical Sociology & Gerontology. She is the author of multiple publications and has presented at national and international conferences. Dr. Meehan is a member of the HIMSS-Xcertia Health App Work Group, HL-7 EHR Usability Workgroup, the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the User Experience Professional Association (UXPA).

John Sharp is Director of Thought Advisory for the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS). He also has been adjunct faculty for the Health Informatics Program at Kent State University since teaching Clinical Analytics I and II. Previously, he was Manager of Clinical Research Informatics at the Cleveland Clinic. He has been in the field of health information technology for more than 20 years. He has authored chapters in several books including Health Informatics Practical Guide and Applying Social Media Technologies in Healthcare Environments. He has also authored and co-authored more than 20 journal articles on health informatics topics, innovation and social media in healthcare.He is also on advisory boards including: Founding board member, NODE Health (Network of Digital Evidence) and International Editorial Board, ICT & Health. Having held several roles in healthcare informatics, he is uniquely qualified to discuss multiple career paths in the field. He has bachelor and masters' degrees from Case Western Reserve University. He has been actively involved in both the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and HIMSS for more than 15 years and presented frequently at their conferences.