OMB No. 0925-0001 and 0925-0002 (Rev. 09/17 Approved Through 03/31/2020)	
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Provide the following information for the Senior/key personnel and other significant contributors.
Follow this format for each person. DO NOT EXCEED FIVE PAGES.	
NAME: Douglas, Gerald P.	
eRA COMMONS USER NAME (credential, e.g., agency login): gdouglas 	
POSITION TITLE: Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics	
EDUCATION/TRAINING  (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, include postdoctoral training and residency training if applicable. Add/delete rows as necessary.)	
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION	DEGREE
(if applicable)	Completion Date
MM/YYYY	FIELD OF STUDY	
University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada	BSc	04/1995	Computer Science	
University of Pittsburgh School of Information Science, Pittsburgh, PA	MSIS	12/1999	Information Science-Medical Informatics	
University of Pittsburgh Department of Biomedical Informatics, Pittsburgh, PA	PhD	04/2009	Biomedical Informatics	
A. Personal Statement
I have had the privilege of serving as a core faculty member of the University of Pittsburgh Biomedical Informatics Training Program since 2011. Through my role as course director of our graduate course, “Principles of Global Health Informatics - BIOINF2124)” and in my capacity as Director of the Center for Health Informatics for the Underserved, I have been able to develop a new area of concentration for students who are interested the application of the principles if informatics in improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare delivery costs in low-resource settings. To complement the classroom activities, I have developed an internship program to allow students to develop and complete small projects in a low-income country setting. In 2014 I combined my BIOINF2124 course and the internship opportunity into a 4-week experience taught on-site in Malawi, Africa. I repeated this in 2015, opening up the opportunity to students from other informatics programs. As interest grew I established the Global Health Informatics Institute (www.ghii.org) based in Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe.  GHII is a residential training center with the mission of training the next generation of global health informaticians with emphasis on problem-driven development and building product ownership skills. GHII provides a platform for students from the University of Pittsburgh to learn and innovate alongside Malawian health and information technology specialists, developing solutions at the intersection of science, engineering and global health. I take great pleasure in mentoring students at the graduate level, and look forward to providing continued input into the success of the Biomedical Informatics Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh. As an inaugural member of the Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) Fellowship Program I have a passion for innovation, and try to instill this in all my students, some of whom have become TED Fellows themselves (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oLsJUH1cfU).
	
B. Positions and Honors
Positions and Employment
11/2010 - Present	Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA	
11/2010 - Present	Director, Center for Health Informatics for the Underserved, Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA	
10/2013 - Present	Assistant Professor, Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA	

Other Experience and Professional Memberships
2002 - Present	Member, American Medical Informatics Association	
Honors
1995	Graduated with Honors (Computer Science, BSc)	
2003	Best Paper Award, Health Informatics in Africa Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa	
2009	Technology, Entertainment & Design (TED) Fellow	
2011	University of Victoria Faculty of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award	
	
C. Contribution to Science
1.	Infectious Disease Management in Underserved Populations: Chronic diseases represent a significant portion of the overall burned of disease in low-income countries. Unlike primary care, chronic disease management can be highly protocolized. We hypothesized that the management of HIV patients could be supported by a point-of-care electronic medical record system with embedded guidelines. In 2008 we developed a touchscreen-based EMR system for the Malawi Ministry of Health, which was in use in 71 hospitals and health centers in Malawi by the end of 2015. In 2010 Based on this model we extended the approach to include the management of patients with diabetes and deployed it at three tertiary hospitals in the Malawi. This work has further been extended to cover a package of non-communicable diseases comprising diabetes, hypertension, asthma and epilepsy. Our work has demonstrated that co-management of chronic diseases can be supported through the use of a point-of-care electronic medical record system in a low-income country setting.
	
a.	Harries AD, Kumar AM, Karpati A, Jahn A, Douglas GP, Gadabu OJ, Chimbwandira F, Zachariah R. Monitoring treatment outcomes in patients with chronic disease: lessons from tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS care and treatment programmes. Tropical Medicine & International Health. 2015 Jul; 20 (7):961-64. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12506 PMID: 25779103	
b.	Manjomo RC, Mwagomba B, Serge A, Ben-Smith AE, Khomani P, Douglas GP, Tayler-Smith K, Harries AD, Gadabu OJ. Integrating non-communicable disease management into primary health care in Lilongwe, Malawi: early experience. Public Health Action. 2015.	
c.	Allain TJ, van Oosterhout JJ, Douglas GP, Joukes S, Gadabu OJ, Darts C, Kapur A, Harries AD. Applying lessons learnt from the ‘DOTS’ Tuberculosis Model to monitoring and evaluating persons with diabetes mellitus in Blantyre, Malawi. Tropical medicine & international health: TM & IH. 2011 Jun 27; 16 (9):1077-84. PMID: 21702868	
d.	Douglas GP, Gadabu OJ, Joukes S, Mumba S, McKay MV, Ben-Smith A, Jahn A, Schouten EJ, Landis-Lewis Z, van Oosterhout JJ, Allain TJ, Berger SD, Harries AD, Chimbwandira F. Using touchscreen electronic medical record systems to support and monitor national scale-up of antiretroviral therapy in Malawi. PLoS medicine. 2010 Aug 10; 7 (8). PMCID: PMC2919419	
		
2.	Supporting Pharmaceutical Management and Supply Chain in Low-Resource Settings: Access to essential medicines is a key part of the right to health. In order for medicines to improve health however, they need to be both available and used effectively and safely. To ensure that medications are available, low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) must be able to forecast medication needs and to purchase appropriate medications in sufficient quantities at a reasonable and affordable price -to be able to control and manage the entire medication supply chain. To address the challenges in medication management in low-resource settings we have developed RxMAGIC, the Prescription Management And General Inventory Control system. Rx MAGIC is currently being deployed in an underserved clinic in Pittsburgh, and elements of the system have been adapted for use in clinics in both Honduras and Malawi.

a.	Mtonga TM, Douglas GP. Standardizing Representation of Medication in LMICs: Case of Malawi and RxNORM. Journal of Health Informatics in Africa 6 (2), 51-​, 2019. doi: 10.12856/JHIA-2019-v6-i2-230	
b.	Fisher AM, Ding MQ, Hochheiser H, Douglas GP.    Measuring time utilization of pharmacists in the Birmingham Free Clinic dispensary.    BMC Health Services Research. 2016 Sept 29;16:529. doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1787-6.	
c.	Fisher A, Herbert MI, Douglas GP. Understanding the dispensary workflow at the Birmingham Free Clinic: A proposed framework for an informatics intervention. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Feb 19; 16:69. PMCID: PMC4759722. doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1308-7	
d.	Kauffman YS, Connor SE, Jonkman L, Kane-Gill SL, Himisi T, Gillespie EM, Douglas GP. Retrospective Evaluation of Adverse Drug Reactions in a Central Hospital in Malawi. Enliven Archive. 2014 Nov 1; 1 (1):1-4.	
		
3.	Strengthening the Clinical Laboratory Total Testing Process in Low-Resource Settings: Adequate laboratory infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is vital for tackling the burden of infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome, malaria, and tuberculosis. Despite the need for laboratory testing in addressing the infectious disease burden, laboratories are ill-integrated into the diagnostic and care delivery process in low-resource settings. We have conducted an assessment of perceived challenges across the entire value stream at a tertiary hospital in Malawi. Results show that while there are challenges in the analytical phase, a great proportion of the challenges exist in the pre- and post-analytical phases of the diagnostic value stream. Based on this understanding we have proposed a set of health IT interventions, which we hypothesize would address many of these challenges. We have complemented the functionality of an existing lab information management system by adding lab test order-entry functionality from the bedside, and results reporting to the bedside using custom manufactured computers on wheels. We have piloted this in the medical department of a tertiary hospital in Malawi and plan to expend to the rest of the hospital, assessing impact of the system.
	
a.	Mtonga TM, (2020). Design, Development, and Evaluation of a Laboratory Order Entry and Results Review Application for a Low-Resource Inpatient Setting. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/38743/.(PhD Advisor: Douglas GP)	
b.	Mtonga TM, Choonara FE, Espino JU, Kachaje C, Kapundi K, Mengezi TE, Mumba SL, Douglas GP. Design and implementation of a clinical Laboratory Information System. African Journal of Laboratory Medicine 8 (1), 1-7	
c.	Petrose LG, Fisher AM, Douglas GP, Terry MA, Muula A, Chawani MS, Limula H, Driessen J. Assessing Perceived Challenges to Laboratory Testing at Kamuzu Central Hospital. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2016 Mar 28; 15 (0867). PMID: 27022150	
d.	Driessen J, Limula H, Gadabu OJ, Gamadzi G, Chitandale E, Ben-Smith A, Douglas GP, Alide N. Bridging the Gap Between Clinical and Laboratory services in a low-resolution setting: Challenges and potential informatics solutions within Kamuzu Central Hospital, A Tertiary Health facility in Lilongwe, Malawi. African Journal of Laboratory Medicine. 2015 Jun 11; 4 (1):1-7. doi: 10.4102/ajlm.v4i1.176	
		
4.	Developing EMR Sustainability Models for Low-Income Countries: Electronic medical record (EMR) systems have the potential to improve health outcomes as well as reduce healthcare delivery costs. However, little is known about the costs of implementing and operating EMRs in an LIC hospital, and the financial benefits have not been studied. We re-imagine the EMR as a series of structured, interconnected informatics interventions that can be individually modeled. Using concepts taken from the field of lean healthcare we assess waste in current processes, propose health IT solutions to reduce or eliminate the waste, and apply a net present value approach to calculating time to break-even and return on investment. Based on this approach our model has shown potential for savings generated by health IT interventions to entirely recover the cost of the intervention in less than 3 years. We believe this approach provides a model for sustainability of health IT interventions in LIC settings.  We plan to apply this approach to assess the financial sustainability of our laboratory information system interventions.
	
a.	Driessen J, Cioffi M, Alide N, Landis-Lewis Z, Gamadzi G, Gadabu OJ, Douglas G. Modeling return on investment for an electronic medical record system in Lilongwe, Malawi. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA. 2012 Nov 9. PMCID: PMC3721156	

5.	Improving Civil Registration in Malawi, Africa: In many low- and middle-income countries most people are born and die without appearing in any official statistic or record. In 2001 we stated working in Malawi, Africa, a landlocked country with a population of roughly 14 million. With no form of civil registration in Malawi patients could not be uniquely identified making continuity of care for patients with chronic illness in challenging. In 2001 we stated working in Kamuzu Central Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe. We developed and introduced a simple electronic patient registration system to issue unique patient ID numbers to patients as they entered the hospital (see Youtube video below). By the end of 2019 this system had been expanded to more than 200 hospitals and health centers in Malawi and more than 4 million nationally unique patient IDs had been issued. Continuity of care for more than 450,000 HIV patients is provided using this ID platform. To complement this approach we started an initiative to issues ID numbers at the community level with the goal of both reducing the demand for patient registration at the health facility level and empowering community leaders through access to village census information. Built on an existing paper-based register model, in 2013 we introduced an electronic village register used by community leaders. This electronic village register has been deployed in 83 villages in Malawi Traditional Authority of Mtema covering a combined population of more than 40,000 citizens. Our work is now expanding to birth registration in rural health centers in Malawi using an integrated approach that takes data from existing electronic medical record systems to pre-populate the birth report.
	
a.	Gabadu OJ, Ben-Smith A, Douglas GP, Chirwa-Nasasara K, Manjomo RC, Harries AD, Dambula I, Kang’oma S, Chiumia T, Chinsinga FB. Scaling up electronic village registers for measuring vital statistics in rural villages in Malawi. Public Health Action. 2018 Jun 21;8(2):7984. doi: 10.5588/pha.17.0116. PMID: 29946524 PMCID: PMC6012956	
b.
	Gadabu OJ, Manjomo RJ, Mwakilama S, Douglas GP, Harries T, Moyo C, Makonokale LD, Kang’oma S, Chitedze P, Chinsinga FB. An electronic register for vital registration in a rural village with no electricity in Malawi. Public Health Action. 2014 Sep 21; 4 (3):145-49. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5588/pha.14.0015 PMCID: PMC4533812	
c.	Malawi patient registration system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf49zRxhKhc

Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F5bO1i8AAAAJ
D. Additional Information: Research Support and/or Scholastic Performance

Ongoing Research Support

OPP1183915 (Douglas)					10/20/17-12/31/20		
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation		
Coaching and Training Support for Ministry of Health Staff in Ethiopia on Applied Global Health Informatics	
The Global Health Informatics Institute (GHII), based in Lilongwe, Malawi, serves as a hub for the African continent for training the next generation of global health informatics leaders and innovators. We will provide a mix of coaching and training, both within Malawi as well as onsite in Ethiopia, to build capacity in data analysts, health information technology staff and senior leadership working in the Ethiopia Ministry of Health. Through this investment we hope to create a critical mass of staff and leaders capable of conceptualizing and implementing locally conceived and developed health information system.
Role: PI

Completed Research Support

NA (Espino)							04/01/18- 03/31/19
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Strengthening Implementation and Use of Effective Health Information Systems through Improved Governance, Design, Planning, Capacity Development, and Technical Implementation under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
Role: Co-I

NA (Douglas)							04/01/17-03/31/19
Vital Strategies
Developing an Electronic Register to Support Birth and Death Registration in Malawi (Phase 2)
Role: PI

OPP1154778 (Douglas)					01/05/16 – 12/31/16
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Independent Expert Assessment and Recommendation on the Choice of National HMIS Platform to the Ethiopia Federal Ministry of Health.
Role: PI

NA (Douglas)							09/30/13-09/29/14
Bloomberg Data Project: International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Implementation of Death Registration in Malawi
Role: PI 

NA (Douglas) 							10/01/12-09/30/14
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention			
Improving Quality of Care and Health Impact through Sustainable, Integrated, Innovation
Role: PI

1R03TW009217-01A1 (Crowley/Douglas)			07/01/12-06/30/14
NIH/Fogarty
Implementation of Automated Guideline Adherence Feedback in Malawi
Role: PI (multiple)

NA (Douglas)							01/01/12-12/31/12
International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Strengthening Management of HIV/AIDS and Non Communicable Diseases through Appropriate Medical
Role: PI (multiple)

NA (Douglas)							01/01/09-12/31/11
International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Diabetes and Hypertension System Development/Deployment and Support to the National Roll-out of BART EDS for HIV/AIDS
Role: PI

1U2GPS000740 (Joukes)					09/30/08-09/29/12
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Improving the delivery & management of HIV /AIDS care in Malawi through Appropriate Medical Informatics	
Role: Co-I

3U2GPS000740-01S1 (Douglas)				09/30/07-09/29/08
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Improving the delivery & management of HIV /AIDS care in Malawi through Appropriate Medical Informatics
Role: PI