MADISON, Wis. – Jomol Mathew, Ph.D., has been named the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s inaugural associate dean for informatics and information technology.

Mathew will work to foster an unparalleled data ecosystem that enables the school and researchers to better collect, share and analyze data from across the health system and university in pursuit of breakthroughs in precision medicine and clinical research.

She will partner with UW Health and others across the UW–Madison campus to provide comprehensive and coordinated informatics and information technology solutions that meet the needs of today’s biomedical scientists.

An advanced infrastructure will allow researchers and the school to better compete for grants and as a clinical trial site, Mathew said.

“Data and informatics are driving forces for modern science and precision health,” she said. “I want to remove barriers to data and implement purpose-driven hybrid computing where our data, algorithms, tools and services are housed together for reproducible research.”

Mathew joined the school in April 2020 as chief of biomedical informatics and associate professor of population health sciences. In this additional role as associate dean, she will develop and implement a strategic vision for data, informatics and information technology in the school.

“We will establish data partnerships and promote information sharing,” Mathew said. “That is the next generation of informatics and information technology for enabling scientific discoveries and faster translation to care.”

Her group is currently developing the UW Data Commons, a repository that will eventually contain a powerful mix of electronic health records, genomic data and information on socioeconomic and environmental factors in a secure and confidential format.

Mathew hopes to use insights from this data to help improve recruitment of patients into clinical trials, she said.

Mathew’s appointment in this role began in October 2021.

“Dr. Mathew has a remarkable ability to see how data and computing infrastructure can be used to advance research and the health of people and populations,” said Dr. Robert N. Golden, dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “Her remarkable expertise and leadership skills will further strengthen our partnerships and the pace of discovery across campus and our academic health system.”

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