LOINC leadership announcement

Letter from Dr. Daniel Vreeman

Dear LOINC friends -

I am writing to share with you that I am departing Regenstrief Institute, Inc. to take a position at RTI International effective October 2019, leading RTI's work and capacity building in health data standards. Although I will no longer be the Director of LOINC and Data Standards at Regenstrief, I can assure you that Regenstrief remains fully committed to LOINC and its long term success as an open vocabulary standard. To that end, I am delighted to announce Dr. Swapna Abhyankar as the Interim Director of Content Development and Operations, and Dr. Terry Cullen as Interim Director of Strategic Planning and Communications for LOINC.

Dr. Abhyankar has been leading LOINC's content development activities since 2014, and has been instrumental in expanding LOINC's scope, ensuring its high quality, and collaborating with many other organizations. Dr. Cullen currently serves as the Associate Director of Global Health Informatics at Regenstrief, having previously served as the Chief Information Officer for the Indian Health Service, Chief Medical Information Officer at the Veterans Health Administration, among other roles. Dr. Cullen is passionate about LOINC's role in improving interoperability. Together, Drs. Abhyankar and Cullen form a fantastic leadership duo that will ensure LOINCs smooth operation and continued success while recruitment for the next permanent Director ensues.

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for the tremendous privilege and honor that it has been to lead LOINC. From my first involvement 16 years ago as an informatics fellow through to the present, it's been a joy to see the LOINC community grow and the positive improvements to health that come when data is available with open standards.

I consider myself very fortunate to have served as a steward of this global public good.

I also want to tell you how exceptionally proud I am of the LOINC team (both past and present), not only because of what they help accomplish through LOINC, but also because of the way they approach this challenging work: with respect for others, integrity, diligence, and a learning mindset. I have the utmost confidence that their excellence will continue, guided by the principles we've established as a community.

I look forward to cheering on LOINC's continued success and having the opportunity to participate in the community through my new role. I will remain an advisor to Regenstrief, plan to continue as a member of the LOINC Committee, and foresee many exciting opportunities ahead.

If you have any questions or comments about this transition, please feel free to contact me. (I'm pretty easy to find on the interwebs).

I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in Mataró, Spain.

As always...Happy LOINCing!

Sincerely,

Daniel J. Vreeman, PT, DPT, MS, FACMI
Director, LOINC and Health Data Standards
Regenstrief Center for Biomedical Informatics
Regenstrief-McDonald Scholar in Data Standards
Indiana University School of Medicine