Consumer- and patient-oriented informatics innovation: continuing the legacy of Warner V. Slack

摘要

Biomedical informatics pioneer Warner V. Slack, MD (1933–2018) is widely credited with saying “Patients are the most underused resource in healthcare” in the 1970s. In a previous editorial, I highlighted the continued relevance of consumer- and patient-oriented perspectives in biomedical and health informatics.1 Additionally, a recent American Medical Informatics Association analysis related to physician clinical informatics subspecialty practice2 as well as existing definitions for other health professionals (eg, nursing informatics3) emphasize the importance of this focus. Five articles in this issue reflect innovative biomedical and health informatics approaches for discovery, application, and analysis related to consumers and patients.