Center for Biomedical Informatics

About the Center for Biomedical Informatics
Established in 2007, the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) aims to enhance CDU’s research, educational, and service capacity in the field of biomedical informatics. This multidisciplinary field focuses on acquiring, storing, communicating, and transforming biomedical data to improve human health. Our goal is to address health disparities by providing informatics solutions to challenges faced by medically underserved and under-resourced communities. Our faculty have diverse expertise in computer science, clinical medicine, sociology, and public health.

Current Leadership and Funding

• Director: Omolola Ogunyemi, PhD, FACMI
• Co-Director: Robert Jenders, MD, MS, FACP, FACMI, FAMIA
• Faculty Member: Sheba George, PhD

The Center is supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) center grants and individual research grants from the NIH, the State of California, and private foundations. Faculty members also teach the required course “Principles of Biomedical Informatics” in the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences program at CDU.

Research Initiatives and Community Partnerships
Our faculty collaborate with safety net clinics and hospitals to research and develop solutions in:

• Telehealth to increase patient access to specialists.
• Machine learning to improve diagnoses, such as diabetic retinopathy.
• Computerized decision support for chronic diseases prevalent in underserved areas.
• Sociotechnical strategies for enhancing patient engagement in healthcare and research.
• Mobile health (mHealth) apps for assessing mental health and substance abuse in communities of color.
• Smartphone-based mHealth apps for peer support in HIV prevention and substance abuse treatment.
• International efforts to establish health information systems standards.

Vision and Future Goals
Inspired by CDU’s dedication to health equity and its vision of “excellent health and wellness for all in a world without health disparities,” the Center plans to:

• Develop a two-year master’s program in health informatics focusing on health disparities.
• Recruit new faculty with expertise in fields like natural language processing.
• Expand efforts to bridge the digital divide, especially in response to COVID-19.
• Advance biomedical informatics research addressing global and domestic health disparities.

Endowment Funding Goal
We are seeking to establish a $5 million endowment to develop a nationally recognized Center for Biomedical Informatics that expands our educational offerings and enhances our research impact on underserved communities.

CDU Background
Founded in 1966 as a Historically Black Graduate Institution, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science was created in response to inadequate access to medical care in South Los Angeles post-Watts Rebellion. Noted for its diverse student body, CDU is a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and was named the second most diverse four-year private nonprofit college in the U.S. by the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2017. Over 80% of CDU students return to provide care in medically underserved areas after graduation.