David Reis, Ph.D., Named a Becker’s “CIO to Know”

The University of Miami’s senior vice president and chief information and digital officer was honored for his dedication to improving health via information technology.

Illustration of doctor in surgery garb using technology in work.

David Reis, Ph.D., the University of Miami’s senior vice president and chief information and digital officer, once again earned recognition as one of Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Hospital and Health System CIOs to Know.” 

The list honors CIOs for their dedication to improving health via information technology (IT). The 133 recognized leaders are, according to the Becker’s website, “leading strategic initiatives that benefit patients and providers. In collaboration with their talented teams, they are modernizing their hospitals and health systems by implementing new electronic health record systems, cybersecurity software and telehealth services.” 

The Becker’s Hospital Review editorial team accepted nominations and curated the list to highlight the work of CIOs from hospitals and health systems across the nation.

Dr. Reis oversees medical informatics, security, data and technology efforts for all of UM, including the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and UHealth — University of Miami Health System, creating a technological environment comprised of secure and efficient systems. He joined UM in 2020 as vice president and chief information officer. Prior to coming to Miami, Dr. Reis was chief information officer at Hackensack Meridian Health and Lahey Health. He is a former adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University and Drexel University.

“I’m grateful for this prestigious career recognition,” said Dr. Reis. “As we continue to advance technology in the health care space, it creates a more efficient hospital operating system for practitioners and patients alike, which can ultimately be lifesaving.” 

Under Dr. Reis’ leadership, UHealth was the first health system in South Florida, and one of the first in the industry, to implement Cheers, Epic’s customer relationship management platform. Cheers integrates multiple portals to quickly record contact information, review correspondence histories, monitor outstanding issues and flag issues for follow-up. 

“I think the biggest area I like to focus on is our role in helping drive digital engagement with our patients,” Dr. Reis said. “Since we’ve been using our Epic electronic health record, we have one of the highest utilization rates in the health care industry.” 

AI in Health Care

Of late, Dr. Reis and team have been investigating how to best use artificial intelligence and machine learning on the patient’s behalf. Despite AI’s extravagant promises, Dr. Reis sees it as a pragmatic tool to improve the patient experience. 

 As an example, Dr. Reis cites patient arrival and wayfinding as an area for which AI will prove beneficial. Technology can recognize and make more efficient the concrete steps that define a patient appointment. 

“Having a system be able to know when you arrive and then seamlessly guide you from the parking garage to your appointment,” he said, “that’s a big area of focus for us.” 

Dr. Reis has been instrumental in garnering UHealth CIO 100 award recognition for the past four years. He spearheaded a collaboration with CLEAR, the secure identity company, to develop a series of system integrations to improve patient and employee experiences. Earlier this year, In partnership with Erin Kobetz, Ph.D., M.P.H., the Miller School’s chief health equity officer and vice president for health equity, and her team, the UHealth IT team rolled out the ONENESS Research Solution (ORS) that integrates two disparate electronic medical record systems. ORS allows researchers and physicians to analyze UHealth and Jackson Health data and identify potential clinical trial matches.  

“This is the first consolidated view across both Jackson’s and UHealth’s records,” said Dr. Reis. “With this system, researchers have the ability to responsibly and securely mine discrete data fields in the EMR and get the full picture of the patient profile.” 

Three large UHealth projects promise more technology challenges for Dr. Reis’ team. Challenges, he said, he relishes as opportunities to continue to improve the patient experience. 

“We’re going to open a significant new facility in Doral here in September and then we’ll have the Kenneth C. Griffin Cancer Research Building opening and SoLé Mia (the following) summer, Dr. Reis said. “So stay tuned and look forward to using our digital tools to make it easy to interact with these new facilities.” 


Tags: Becker's Hospital Review, Dr. David Reis, Information Technology