Health informatics expert earns top honor
Marion Ball, a University of Texas at Arlington health informatics expert, has received the John P. Glaser Health Informatics Innovator Award for her leadership in the field.
Ball is professor of nursing in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation and executive director of the Multi-Interprofessional Center for Health Informatics (MICHI). The award—given by the John P. Glaser Health Informatics Society at UTHealth Houston’s D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics—acknowledges innovators in the field of health informatics and provide education, collaboration, and networking opportunities for the broader community of health informatics professionals, clinicians and students.
“I am delighted to be receiving the Glaser Award,” Ball said. “Dr. John Glaser is a person I have long admired. To be receiving the award that bares his name, and to be in the company of those who have received it before me, is indeed an honor.”
Ball’s name has become synonymous with health informatics thanks to her more than 350 journal articles, 40 books and numerous other publications. In addition, she has served with numerous boards and organizations, including as president of the International Medical Informatics Association and member of the National Academy of Medicine. She has also previously been recognized as one of the Most Influential Women in Health IT by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
At UTA, Ball, who holds the Raj and Indra Endowed Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering, and her MICHI team’s work are leading the way in revolutionizing how data and technology are being used to make health and health care better.
“Dr. Marion Ball’s formative influence in health informatics is truly the stuff of legends,” said Glaser, UTHealth Houston senior vice president and the Health Informatics Society’s founding member, in a release announcing the honor.
Jiajie Zhang, dean and professor of the D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, touted Ball’s more than 45 years of experience in the field.
“For decades, she has promoted and demonstrated the value of informatics to the delivery of health care, nationally and internationally, through active board and committee service, publications, speaking engagements, teaching and mentoring and invaluable counsel to her colleagues,” Zhang said.
Ball will be formally honored during a reception Oct. 13 at UTHealth Houston.