MS in Health Informatics Faculty
Raymond Robinson
Faculty Director
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Raymond Robinson is the Executive Dean and Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine, and the Education Enhancement Department at the American University of Antigua. Recently appointed as a Faculty Director for the Northwestern Master of Health Informatics, Robinson is eager to bring his wealth of experience in healthcare, education, and research to this new role, where he aims to further enhance the educational experiences and outcomes for students and faculty alike. His excitement for this position is grounded in his commitment to excellence in education and his continuous pursuit of innovative teaching and learning strategies.
His prior work in Health Informatics includes being a senior manager at the Philips Hospital to Home Telemedicine, working to extend Telemedicine across the healthcare continuum. Robinson’s research interests are broad and impactful, encompassing patient safety, healthcare quality improvement, telemedicine, data-driven decision making in education, and student-centered teaching. He has spent six years in doctoral education, initially at the Johns Hopkins School of Education before transferring to the Marshall School of Education to focus on curriculum studies and complete his dissertation. His doctoral thesis, titled “Improving Student-centered Teaching Practices and Data-Driven Decision Making in Medical Faculty,” has led to the development of a new adaptive learning management system designed to support student-centered teaching practices and to track student progress.
Before his academic and entrepreneurial accomplishments, Robinson began his medical research training working with Dr. Peter Pronovost’s team at the Johns Hopkins Quality and Safety Research Group (QSRG) on the international On the CUSP: STOP BSI campaign. Since then, Robinson has authored several manuscripts and book chapters focused on AI in Education, technology in Education, faculty development, healthcare quality improvement, and patient safety.
Robinson received his MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine while also pursuing an MPH in clinical investigation, biostatistics, and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, completing a thesis study on “Airway Management by a Difficult Airway Response Team." His interest in the business of healthcare and quality improvement led him to pursue an MBA degree at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.
As he steps into his role as Faculty Director, Robinson is enthusiastic about leveraging his diverse expertise to foster an environment that supports diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and to lead initiatives that prepare students to be compassionate, competent, and innovative professionals.
Eric Abbott
Adjunct Lecturer
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Eric B. Abbott is an innovative and entrepreneurial executive with a deep understanding of healthcare IT and digital transformation technologies. He is Chief Product Officer at a Stealth Mode AI startup leading new, data-driven approaches to address chronic hypertension management. Previously, he was Systems Director, Emerging Technologies, at Advocate Aurora Health, an integrated healthcare delivery network serving all of Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Prior to this, Mr. Abbott led Product Management, Product Marketing, and Strategic Business Development initiatives at various high technology companies focused on the healthcare, public safety, and commercial enterprise markets.Mr. Abbott holds a Master of Science degree in Medical Informatics from Northwestern University, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto. He hold two patents, is a member of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), a board member of the Healthcare IoT Community Board, and a member of the Delaware Association of Professional Engineers (DAPE) and Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO). In his free time, Mr. Abbott enjoys music, sailing and astronomy. Eric resides in Metropolitan Chicago, IL.
Wei-an (Andy) Chang
Adjunct Lecturer
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Andy Chang currently works for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Office of Atmospheric Programs where among other duties, he is the national workgroup chair for rulemakings under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act that phase down, manage, and transition away from, hydrofluorocarbons, which are potent greenhouse gases with global warming potentials that are hundreds to thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide.
Before his current post in the Office of Atmospheric Programs, he spent almost four years in the specialty running industry where he managed the operations and planning aspects of a store in North Carolina. He also coached trail runners, half marathon runners, and full marathon runners.
Previously, Andy was located in EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where he developed national policy and guidance for the designations process under the Clean Air Act for sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and lead, as well as the interstate transport of sulfur dioxide. Prior to his position in North Carolina, Andy worked in the EPA's Great Lakes Region Office in Chicago, Illinois to ensure that states in the region were able to meet their obligations under the Clean air Act.
He is the recipient of the 2010 EPA Trudy A. Speciner Non-supervisory Award for Advancing Environmental Protection.
Andy is a two-time graduate of Northwestern University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a M.S. in Medical Informatics (the predecessor to the MHI program). He currently resides in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.
Imran Khan
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Imran Khan currently serves as the Director and Head of Digital Health Innovation & Capabilities at AbbVie, where he is responsible for spearheading the strategy, development, and deployment of the digital technologies and capabilities needed to deliver on the vision for Digital Health of our clinical trials globally. Imran has served in different leadership roles at AbbVie for launching new drugs and supporting on-market brands in different therapeutic areas, and developing strategic capabilities in the Commercial and R&D organizations. He has a successful track record of developing innovative technology & data solutions to enable healthcare providers and patients manage advanced medication therapies for complex diseases.
Prior to joining biopharma, Imran worked for Advocate Health Care, where he led Electronic Health Records implementations, Health Information Exchanges, Patient Portals, several Interoperability projects, clinical quality improvement initiatives such as Clinical Integration, Meaningful Use, PQRS, Accountable Care Organizations, and Patient-Centered Medical Home for the largest community of hospital-affiliated physicians in the United States. In other roles, Imran worked for GE Healthcare and Walgreens, where he developed and supported several clinical and pharmaceutical applications.
Imran served on the Greater Illinois Chapter HIMSS Board of Directors for several years to advance the delivery of patient care through technology and data. Imran earned his BS in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, MS in Medical Informatics from Northwestern University, and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has over 10 years of teaching experience in the Northwestern University Health Informatics & Analytics programs.
Melanie Meyer
Adjunct Lecturer
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Melanie Meyer has over 25 years of experience in healthcare and technology across a broad range of healthcare settings--health system, community health, academic medical center, physician practice, and managed care--with specific expertise in the successful integration of healthcare information systems with improved business operational processes. Melanie currently manages complex EHR optimization, performance/quality improvement, and business transformation initiatives for a range of healthcare organizations as a Principal & Performance Improvement Advisor at EVOSCALE Health. She previously worked at Gartner as a Director, Healthcare Strategic Advisory Services where she advised executives on best practices for system implementations, evaluated startup technology innovations, and conducted industry research on health informatics, including the healthcare technology lifecycle. She also previously worked in Strategic Initiatives & Technology and held a variety of operational leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente. Melanie currently serves on the AHIMA Data Analytics & Data Use Practice Council, previously co-chaired the AHIMA Health Information Exchange Practice Council, and has published research and insights in industry journals. Melanie received her Ph.D. in Health Services from Walden University and her Masters of Science in Healthcare Administration from the University of Maryland, and also maintains certifications in health information management (AHIMA), healthcare quality (CPHQ), agile project management (PMI), Six Sigma Black Belt (ASQ) and Lean (AME/Shingo Institute/SME).
William T. Mickelson (Bill)
Assistant Professor of Instruction
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Dr. William T. Mickelson is an applied social science statistician and statistical consultant with over 35 years of experience in both academia and industry. Mickelson has taught across the spectrum of research and statistical topics, including courses in mathematical and stochastic modeling, general linear statistical models, response surface methods, multivariate statistical methods, and linear and non-linear optimization. He is deeply involved with statistics education and the promoting of statistical reasoning, thinking, and literacy. He has also maintained a statistical consulting practice with clients primarily in Health Care, state and local government, health and fitness, transportation, insurance, banking and finance, and Higher Education.
Ekta S. Punwani
Adjunct Lecturer
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- ekta.punwani@northwestern.edu
- @ektapunwani
Ekta Punwani is the Leader of the 100 Top Program at IBM Watson Health. She is a trusted advisor to client executives on performance improvement opportunities and strategies based on the 100 Top Program studies.
Prior to joining IBM Watson Health, Ms. Punwani served as a Hospital and Health System executive leading organizational transformation, operations improvement, and change leadership within the health care continuum. She has demonstrated building performance improvement and analytics capability within multiple healthcare organizations including Adventist Midwest Health, Advocate Health Care and Northwestern Medicine.
Ekta provides leadership, direction, and guidance to health care organization in the areas of quality and patient safety, operations, business intelligence, and performance improvement to drive best practice implementation and achieve outcomes. She has served on the Board of Examiners for the National Baldrige Performance Excellence Program for four years and has received certification as an ICBB – International Certified Black Belt. Ekta also served as a member of the NQF Measure Feedback Loop Committee.
Ekta received both a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and a Master’s degree in Health Administration from Washington University in St. Louis.
Christian Wallis
Adjunct Lecturer
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Christian Wallis is currently the CEO of Grossmont Healthcare District where he provides operational and administrative oversight of the resources, assets, and programs that support the healthcare needs of approximately 500k people within the District’s 750 square miles in San Diego’s East County region. Prior to this, he worked for Advocate Aurora Health where his served as Regional Vice President (IL) of HIT Support Services, Vice President of Operations at Advocate Condell Medical Center and Director of Physician Practices (Pediatrics) at Advocate Children’s Hospital. Before working in the private sector, Wallis spent 21 years as an officer in the United States Navy where he served in numerous executive positions in the group practice, hospital and insurance settings. He earned his certification as a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives in 2010. In 2012, he was selected as an examiner for the US Department of Commerce, Malcolm Baldrige program which oversees the nation's only Presidential award for performance excellence. He received his MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and doctorate in healthcare administration from Central Michigan University.