Oct 25, 2016
Debra A. Patt, MD, MPH, MBA
The Journal of Clinical Oncology Clinical Cancer Informatics (JCO CCI) is helmed by Editor in Chief Debra A. Patt, MD, MPH, MBA. She shares her perspective on being a woman in the field of clinical informatics and the challenges of launching one of ASCO’s newest journals.
AC: What has been your experience as a woman working in clinical informatics and in medicine?
DP: I have two different jobs: oncologist and informaticist. There are many women who have careers in oncology and many women who have careers in informatics, but the leadership in both fields is more commonly held by older men. Because of this gap, there are some age- and gender-based hurdles that exist in both subspecialties.
AC: What advice would you give to young women specifically, and young professionals generally, who are interested in clinical informatics and big data, and want to have an impact on the field?
DP: Follow the things that you’re passionate about. Being passionate about your professional pursuits makes it easy to work on them constantly, whether it’s while sitting in front of a desk or while your mind is wandering with your first cup of coffee in the morning. We need young leaders to be passionate about informatics and big data, and more importantly, we need some fraction of clinicians to bridge clinical medicine and informatics to help build better systems and improve health care. We have to engineer health care systems for the doctors and patients who will come after us. There is a tremendous need for willing and capable young minds to contribute.
AC: If that passion manifests in a submission for JCO CCI, what kinds of papers are most likely to be accepted?
DP: We want JCO CCI to be a platform for dissemination of information so we can learn and improve clinical medicine through informatics. I’m looking for stories of how informatics improves care so that we can get that information out to the greater ASCO constituency. JCO CCI is coming out at just the right time due to the tremendous need for more knowledge about informatics in cancer. I think we can be a resource to make health care better.