Another thing to consider, if he’s interested in health IT, he doesn’t have to necessarily work or get a degree in health informatics to do so. He could get a PhD in MIS or CS and work on studying security for Health IT systems. Having experience as working in the field can replace a strong research line when he is applying for a job. Students in particular appreciate professors who worked in industry prior to teaching. In comparison to some professors who went directly into grad school after they graduated and their professors job is their first job.

Getting a job in the sector of Informatics is no different from any other technical job.

Foreign med school here. I only have some idea of how to get into health IT, could you provide an outline or sources? Do I have to, say, start from scratch? Would be much appreciated.

For my current job, I got poached by a HR recruiter. I just applied for the hospital data analyst job back then. Just so you know… much of healthcare does not pay as much as other sectors. I’d be making a lot more if i was outside of healthcare. I love the data and types of people I work with too much to ever leave.

Currently an MLT of 4 years looking to get into Informatics with no luck so far, any tips? I have light LIS experience (building tests, dictionary maintenance, etc) and am currently working on an Epic Beaker proficiency.

I’m a developer working since 3 years. My parents have a hospital so I want to slowly transition into healthcare (by working at clinical coding companies or something). So currently pursuing a part-time online MS degree in health informatics.

A CIO in healthcare has to understand enough to be useful/dangerous. They are not technical experts, they are leaders with an understanding of strategy, change management, project management, leadership/team building, communication. They should hold the technology vision for the organization to ensure we meet the end goals/North Star. They see shiny objects and hopefully can diffuse when they don't make sense. I have sent a number of employees on the CHIME CIO bootcamp. Worth every penny, especially in person. They offer scholarships for public organizations which I have been successful getting for my staff over the years. My expectation of my team is that 10% of their time is spent learning. No one is productive 100% of the time and I want to spend part of that time learning - ideally in a group/small group setting. Articles, research, teams watching videos, etc. All of these things grow your team cohesiveness. Which makes them more productive.

Do you have advice for anyone pursuing CIO positions (also in Canada if that helps)? Thanks so much for sharing!

There are so many paths and I would say most of my colleagues never planned to go into informatics. I was a medical office assistant in a physician office and ultimately got hired by our EMR vendor. Did implementation, QA, moved to acute care informatics from there. Was CIO for a large Canadian health organization and transitioning to CIO for another country. No undergraduate degree, Masters of Arts in Leadership and starting my Phd next year.

Epics a little harder but I would keep eyes open on any positions within the same lab/hospital you are currently working. That's the easiest way to get the foot in the door. Otherwise other local hospitals/labs that are familiar with yours would be another shot.