Clinical Informatics

A New Program for a New Era in Medicine

Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine welcomes applicants to the ACGME-accredited Clinical Informatics (CI) fellowship program. This new two-year program is open to board eligible graduates of ACGME accredited residency programs in any primary specialty (Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medical Genetics and Genomics, Pathology, Pediatrics, Preventive Medicine, or Radiology). We train fellows for various careers in Clinical Informatics, all critical to the transformative era that Medicine is undergoing. We offer thorough preparation for the board examination (administered by the American Board of Pathology for pathologists and by the American Board of Preventive Medicine for all other specialists).

Clinical Informatics is the medical subspecialty that coordinates use by healthcare providers of existing and innovative information systems in all branches of medicine. Clinical Informaticists play a vital role in teams that plan, implement, and maintain these systems. Our fellows will be ready for careers in roles ranging from clinical care, academic positions, administrative, to the private sector.

Meet the department's fellows

Program Information

Educational and Research

Our program offers 2 month rotations in all aspects of Clinical Informatics. Rotations cover all aspects of the ACGME curriculum as well as important new areas of data analytics and bioinformatics. Rotations during the first 8 months include Masters Level courses in Introduction to Clinical Informatics and Bioinformatics. In addition, rotations include experiences in Clinical Informaticist roles in hospital operations, clinical bioinformatics, research informatics, data analytics and data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, project management, laboratory information systems, and medical imaging informatics.

Fellows solidify their experience and prepare for board examinations and their careers by regularly summarizing their experiences and presenting to fellows in other fields and faculty content during each rotation. Data analytics and bioinformatics are two areas covered that we anticipate to be covered soon in curriculum revisions by ACGME.

Clinical Experience

In addition to the extensive involvement with all aspects of informatics in hospital operations of different types, fellows will continue practicing in the area of their primary specialty. ACGME requires fellows to maintain clinical practice in their area of specialty. Arrangements with the corresponding Department are provided for this requirement.

Eligibility and Requirements

Candidates must be board eligible or certified in Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medical Genetics and Genomics, Pathology, Pediatrics, Preventive Medicine, or Radiology and be able to obtain an unrestricted permanent Illinois medical license.

Application Process

The program has one Clinical fellowship position for a two-year fellowship starting July 2025. Applications should be submitted through the Electronic Residency Application Service portal (MyERAS). CAP standardized fellowship application is also accepted. We will start accepting applications for the 2025-27 academic year in 2024.

Please include:

Current CV
Personal statement
Three letters of recommendation

Rotation Schedule

Site 1 is Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Site 2 is Lurie Children's Hospital. Rotations are 2 months each. Specifics regarding rotation content and fellow activities are in the New Application: Clinical Informatics document. Master Level Courses are provided through the Office for Professional Studies, Northwestern University, as part of the course requirements for Master Level Programs for Informatics.

Percent distributions: Because Clinical Informatics is an administrative subspecialty, in that board certified Clinical Informaticists primarily work with both clinicians and health care administrators regarding information technology as it relates to health care, an administrative line was added (after discussion with ACGME staff). Master Level Course work is considered part of the Administrative component. Fellow participation in direct clinical care is the Clinical component.

Stipend

The stipend is commensurate with the fellow’s PGY year of training and by previous training and experience. Find stipend information via the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University site.

Why Northwestern?

Housestaff training through McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University provides diverse and challenging clinical experiences and world-class education located in the heart of the beautiful city of Chicago. Learn more via the links to the McGaw website below.

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Contact Us

We encourage you to contact Raven Rodriguez at clinicalinformatics@northwestern.edu.

All questions will be promptly answered by the program director.

Program Director

Allan D. Wu, MD has been with Northwestern Medicine in the Movement Disorders program since 2020. Dr. Wu completed Movement Disorders Fellowship training at the University of Southern California in 2001 and was faculty at UCLA from 2005 to 2020. For the last decade, Dr. Wu has worked as a physician informaticist on electronic health record (EHR) projects to improve patient engagement, reduce physician burnout, enhance efficiency, and raise awareness of informatics as a specialty. Dr. Wu is active in the California Parkinson’s Disease Registry and the American Academy of Neurology. At Northwestern, Dr. Wu is the Director of Applied Clinical Informatics at the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute and will work to develop a vision of learning healthcare systems for patients where the patient care generates real-time information that can guide shared-decision making and drive improvements in the delivery of care.

Associate Program Director

David Liebovitz, M.D., Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, inaugurated the Clinical Informatics Fellowship Program, University of Chicago. He is a Fellow, American Medical Informatics Association. Experience at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine has included serving as Chief Medical Information Officer, Northwestern Medicine, inaugural Program Director, Master of Medical Informatics. Educational activities include teaching in Master degree courses at Northwestern University and University of Chicago. Dr. Liebovitz is an author on numerous publications in the field of Clinical Informatics.