Alumni
Over 110 students have graduated from the Department of Biomedical Informatics (25+ PhD, 50+ MS, 25+ Certificate). The diversity of careers available to DBMI alumnus is evident in their biographies. Many of our graduates are teaching and performing research in academic institutions, such as Vanderbilt University, Arizona State University, and New York University while others have entered private industry with companies such as Cerner Corporation and Boston Scientific; some have positions in government agencies, such as the NIH and AHRQ, while others are at major medical centers, serving in roles such as Chief Medical Information Officer. We maintain a database of the career paths of our graduates. If you are an alumnus, please contact us if you would like to submit or update information!
Velma L. Payne
Biographical Info
Personal Statement: After an extended career in Information Technology, I decided to pursue my PhD within another department at Pitt. After taking a class within DBMI from Dr. Rebecca Crowley, I knew DBMI was the place I needed to be. I immediately transferred to DBMI where I obtained the skills necessary to integrate my technology expertise with Medical Decision Making and Diagnostic Errors in Medicine. Dr. Crowley was instrumental in planting the seed of the importance of the cognitive aspects of medical decision making. Cognition was an area that I didn’t know I would love so much until I was mentored by Dr. Crowley. I believe technology is a valuable tool to augment medical decision making within the clinical environment. My goal is to provide tools to clinicians on the front-line of medical care that will reduce medical errors and enhance patient safety.
Biography:
Dr. Payne is presently a Research Science Specialist at the Houston Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center researching Diagnostic Errors in Medicine; Instructor at Baylor College of Medicine; and teaching several graduate level courses as Adjunct Faculty at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Biomedical Informatics. She earned her bachelors at Oral Roberts University, and Masters of Science in Computer Information Systems and Business Administration from Robert Morris University. Velma went on to earn both her Masters and PhD in Biomedical Informatics in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh. She now lives in Houston, Texas.
Awards:
2009 Annual BMI Training Program Retreat Best Student Paper Award
Selected Publications:
Payne, VL, Medvedeva, O, Legowski E, Castine M, Tseytlin E, Jukic D, Crowley RS (2009). Effect of a limited enforcement intelligent tutoring system in dermatopathology on student errors, goals and solution paths. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, 2009 Nov;47(3):175-97. Available online DOI 10.1016/j.artmed.2009.07.002. Best Student Paper Award – 2009 University of Pittsburgh Biomedical Informatics Training Program
Payne VL, Medvedeva O, Legowski E, Castine M, Tseytlin E, Jukic D, Crowley RS. Effect of a limited-enforcement intelligent tutoring system in dermatopathology on student errors, goals and solution paths. Artif Intell Med. 2009 Nov;47(3):175-97. Epub 2009 Sep 25. PMID:19782544
Payne VL, Crowley RS. Assessing the use of cognitive heuristic representativeness in clinical reasoning. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2008 Nov 6:571-5. PMID:18999140, PMCID: PMC2656076
El Saadawi G, Azevedo R, Castine M, Payne, V, Medvedeva O, Tseytlin E, Legowski E, Jukic D, Crowley, RS. (2009) Factors affecting feeling-of-knowing in a medical intelligent tutoring system – the role of immediate feedback as a metacognitive scaffold. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2010 Mar;15(1):9-30. Epub 2009 May 12. DOI 10.1007/s10459-009-9162-6
Other Publications
Graber ML, Kissam S, Payne VL, Meyer AN, Sorensen A, Lenfestey N, Tant E, Henriksen K, Labresh K, Singh H. Cognitive interventions to reduce diagnostic error: a narrative review. BMJ Qual Saf. 2012 Jul;21(7):535-57. Epub 2012 Apr 27.
Payne, VL, Patel, VL (In Press). Framework for Characterization of Cognitive Heuristics Used in Critical Care Settings. Journal of Biomedical Informatics 2012.
Payne, V. L. and J. Kiel (2005). Web-based communication to enhance outcomes: A case study in patient relations. Journal of Healthcare Information Management 19(2). PMID 15869214
Conference Proceedings
Payne, V. L. and Crowley, RS (2008). Assessing the use of the cognitive heuristic Representativeness in clinical reasoning. American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Annual Symposium Proc. Nov 6:571-5. PMID 18999140; PMCID 2656076
Payne, V. L. and Metzler, DP (2005). Hospital Care Watch (HCW): An ontology and rule-based intelligent patient management assistant. IEEE Symposium on Computer Based Medical Systems (CBMS), Dublin, Ireland. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1078160
Poster Presentations
Payne, V.L. and Patel, V.L (2011) Framework for Characterization of Cognitive Heuristics Used in Critical Care Settings. American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Annual Symposium
Payne, V.L. and Patel, V.L (2011) Framework for Characterization of Cognitive Heuristics Used in Critical Care Settings. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) NRSA Trainees Research Conference
Payne, V. L. and R. S. Crowley (2009). Assessing the use of the cognitive heuristic Representativeness in clinical reasoning. 2nd Annual Diagnostic Errors in Medicine Conference, Hollywood, CA, October 2009
Payne, V. L. and R. S. Crowley (2008). Use of the cognitive heuristic Representativeness during clinical reasoning. NLM Informatics Training Conference, Bethesda, MD, July 2008
Book Chapters
Payne, V. L. (2004). Evidence-based medicine: Enabling physicians to make better decisions in Healthcare Information Management Systems, Cases, Strategies and Solutions, Third Edition. M. J. Ball, C. A. Weaver and J. M. Kiel. New York, NY, Springer-Verlag.