OSEHRA 2014: Tweed, Rhodes and Timson Receive Awards During Open Source EHR Summit

Arlington, VA – September 18, 2014 – The Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) announced today the recipients of the 2014 OSEHRA Awards presented at the widely-attended 2014 OSEHRA Open Source Summit. Three outstanding individuals were recognized by the OSEHRA community for their leadership and contributions to health information technology and innovative healthcare.

The 2014 Innovation Award was presented to Rob Tweed, Director, M/Gateway Developments Ltd., a company in the U.K. that specializes in web technologies and their role in healthcare. His high-profile developments include the EWD.js framework and the JavaScript User Interface for Oroville Hospital’s winning entry in the 2013 Scheduling Contest hosted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. His innovations have broadened the scope of OSEHRA Corporate Members and the capabilities of the open source community.

The 2014 Leadership Award was presented to Christine Rhodes, Veterans Health Administration Director for Open Source Management within the Office of Informatics and Analytics at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration. During her 29 years of dedication to Veterans healthcare, she has been instrumental in collaborative, early assessment of joint iEHR capabilities and VA VistA Standardization efforts. Her leadership has strengthened the critical partnership between OSEHRA and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to George Timson. He is an independent contractor best known as the author of FileMan and associated medical applications, implemented in the early 1980’s by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. During that time he also served as the Secretary and Vice Chairman of the MUMPS Development Committee. In 1985, Mr. Timson became a partner of the startup DI*STAR. This company executed TRIMIS, the hospital-information project of the U.S. Department of Defense, and its large suite of FileMan-based software now deployed worldwide. His lifetime achievements and continuous dedication to military and Veteran healthcare are an inspiration to the OSEHRA community.

“We are pleased to have this opportunity to honor these exemplary members of the open source community,” commented Seong K. Mun, President of OSEHRA. “Their vast contributions have made a lasting impact on healthcare information technology, particularly within the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.”

More than 325 academics, clinicians, developers, government officials, industry leaders, and members participated in the 2014 OSEHRA Open Source Summit—with representation from the United States, Canada, India, Jordan, Mexico, Romania, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Plans are underway for the 2015 OSEHRA Open Source Summit. Information will be available at summit.osehra.org.

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OSEHRA is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating innovation in electronic health record software and related technology. Founded in 2011, OSEHRA is a rapidly growing open source community with over 2,500 registered members representing 160+ industry, academic, and government organizations. OSEHRA supports an open, collaborative community of users, developers, and researchers engaged in advancing electronic health record software and related health information technology. OSEHRA hosts software repositories for applications such as the Department of Veterans Affairs’ VistA electronic health record. OSEHRA is a member of global industry associations including the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Health Level 7 (HL7), and the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE).