2003 panel of judges.

Every year, six or seven dedicated healthcare IT professionals step forward to help Health Management Technology judge the What Works articles that have been published that year. This is no small task.

These individuals represent both healthcare end-users and vendors, and they give their personal time to reading, assessing, comparing and scoring more than 20 case histories in the competition. HMT sincerely appreciates their level of commitment and impartiality, and the time and consideration they generously dedicate to determining the winners. We commend them for their efforts in recognizing and rewarding healthcare IT utilization at its best, and we extend our heartfelt appreciation for their excellent work as judges in the 2003 competition.

Ali Birjandi, M.B.A., M.H.A. Ali Birjandi is the director of process reengineering and IT customer consulting for the Carle Clinic Association (comprised of more than 300 physicians) and Carle Foundation Hospital (a 295 bed facility) in Urbana, III. In this capacity, he directs businesses processes and IT initiatives for the enterprise, including cardiology, ambulatory EMRs, radiology and human resource systems, with an emphasis on automation feasibility, benchmarking and ROI demonstration for IT projects. Prior to Carle, he held several positions with Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla., including senior management engineer, radiology system administrator and IS project manager, focusing on feasibility, installation and benefits realization for IT implementations in radiology, pharmacy and financial reimbursements. Mr. Birjandi holds a bachelor's degree in business operations management and master's degrees in business administration and health administration, all from the University of Florida. In addition, he is a contributing author to Health Management Technology, with a focus on PACS/ RIS implementation strategies.

Robert Calabrisi, D.Sc. Robert Calabrisi is the business manager for patient care services, VA Pittsburgh Health Care Systems in Pittsburgh, with executive responsibility for developing and implementing cost savings methodologies. In this capacity, he provides management and financial recommendations to the senior executive nurse for the healthcare system, applicable to more than 450 nursing professionals. He has been with the organization since 1993 and has held a number of progressively responsible positions there, including healthcare informatics coordinator. He also served as the chief of the coordinated care division at Redstone Army Medical Hospital in Alabama, where he was active in CHAMPUS development. Dr. Calabrisi spent 24 years in the U.S. Army, achieving the rank of major. He holds a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Albany, a master's degree in health education from Pennsylvania State University, and a doctorate in information systems and communications from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. He is a contributing author to HMT.

John T. Hinton, D.O., M.P.H. John Hinton is currently the vice president of clinical information management for Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP), the fifth-largest not-for-profit healthcare system in the U.S. He is a graduate of Hanover College and Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, and he holds a master's degree in public health from Loma Linda University. He is board-certified by the American Board of Osteopathic Family Practice and the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians. Dr. Hinton has been active in family and emergency medicine since 1979, when he founded a private practice serving four counties in Ohio and Indiana. Prior to CHP, he served as chief medical officer for ChoiceCare/Humana in Ohio, a health network supporting 360,000 members and 4,600 physicians. He has also held executive or consultant positions with United Health Care, Square D Co. and Sanyo Corp. Dr. Hinton continues to see patients part-time in a Cincinnati hospital emergency department.

Robert Kambic, M.S.H. Robert Kambic is currently senior informatician, National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII), Office of Science and Data Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Mr. Kambic works with the federal agency responsible for formulating and developing the nation's digital health information infrastructure. He is staff to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics and sits on public health informatics committees such as those at the National Science Foundation. He reviews and develops policy related to health informatics, including bioterror mitigation and response. Prior to this, Mr. Kambic was affiliated with Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health for about 20 years, serving as the director of computing for more than 200 users with $20 million in grants. He is a career informatics expert and author of more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and monographs. He gained his bachelor's degree from Duquesne University and his M.S.H. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

Gail B. Malcolm, FHIMSS, C.H.E For more than two decades, Gall Malcolm has served healthcare IT on two fronts: as an end user and from the supplier perspective. She is currently a product marketing manager for MEDecision and recently served as a director/member consultant for VHA, supporting VHA's information technology, physician practice ambulatory surgery, long term care and community health initiatives. She has also served as chief information officer at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and director of information systems at Paoli Memorial Hospital. Ms. Malcolm received her undergraduate degree in business administration from The King's College in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and a master's degree in health services administration, with a specialty in health information systems, from George Washington University. She has also worked for Shared Medical Systems (now Siemens), where she was involved in the launch of the NOVIUS product, and as director of marketing for CapMed, recently acquired by Bio Imaging Technologies.

Donald W. Rucker, M.D. Don Rucker Is the vice president and chief medical officer of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, the healthcare division of Siemens. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine with board certifications in internal medicine and emergency medicine. Dr. Rucker holds master's degrees in medical computer science and business administration, both from Stanford. Dr Rucker came to Siemens from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he serves as the first full-time emergency department attending, and from Datamedic Corp., where he co-developed the first Windows-based EMR. He is also an attending physician practicing emergency medicine in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. He has held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School and is a prolifically published author.

Deborah Sunday. Since the late 1980s, Deborah Sunday has worked with some of the country's foremost health care information technology vendors, including SMS/Siemens Medical Solutions, Cerner Corp and Per-Se Technologies, as well as First Consult ing Group. Her experience includes market ing, customer relations, sales support and business planning for clinical, financial and re source management solutions to acute and ambulatory care providers. In her current role as senior director of marketing at McKesson Corp. in Alpharetta, Ga., she spearheads marketing activities for McKesson's supply chain suite of products and services, a model that supports the customer in each step of the supply chain from product select on through product ordering, delivery, usage, payment, revenue capture and management reporting. Prior to McKesson, she was the marketing director for Per-Se's application software division. Ms. Sunday is a graduate of Millersville University in Millersville, Pa.