A Matter of Facts

Health information and data can often be dense and hard to understand, meaning that it runs the risk of misinterpretation.

We are dedicated to exploring and affecting how the public, research, and medical professionals obtains and makes sense of this kind of information, working closely with collaborators such as the UNC School of Medicine, Gillings School of Global Public Health and Eshelman School of Pharmacy to make an impact for the better.

The Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP) is an interdisciplinary research and training program that uses health information to bring a higher level of quality and efficiency to health care. Led by Professor Javed Mostafa, CHIP offers certificate programs, a professional science master’s degree, and a doctoral program that advance the knowledge and competencies for a wide range of health-care fields. Outcomes include lowered costs, greater availability and enhanced care. In this rapidly growing field, our graduates apply their knowledge in hospitals and clinics, in public health agencies and research centers, in North Carolina and around the world.

In addition to serving as assistant director of CHIP, faculty member David Gotz leads the Visual Analytics and Communications Lab (VACLab), working with student collaborators, as well as professionals from around the Triangle and the world. Recent research has focused on enabling doctors to better explain possible outcomes to patients using information-visualization techniques and on developing new contextual visualization methods that will improve the analysis complex data sets, helping researchers avoid serious errors. Projects can run the gamut from pneumonia care plan analysis to virtual reality programs for treating PTSD. Enhanced data visualization is a key component to the future of health care informatics, and one of many ways we stay at the forefront of this emerging field.