Armando D. Bedoya, MD, MMCi, has been named Chief Data Officer for Quality for the Duke University Health System. In this new role, Dr. Bedoya will work to advance the data and analytics capabilities of Duke Health and their application to high-quality, equitable patient care. He will also explore collaborations with academic and industry partners in order to extend Duke Health’s ability to leverage data science for health care.

“Dr. Bedoya will bring a unique combination of skills, outlook, and background to his new role in Duke Health,” notes Duke Health Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer Richard Shannon, MD, who also serves as director of the Duke Collaborative to Advance Health Equity (CACHE). “His clinical knowledge and extensive work in clinical informatics — including his role as Duke Health’s first medical director of the Analytic Center of Excellence — have given him an ideal preparation for leading efforts to propel Duke into the front ranks of excellence in data science, clinical quality, and equitable care.”

A physician in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine and an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Bedoya also serves as Associate Chief Medical Informatics Officer for Duke Health. Following his graduation from Brown University’s Alpert Medical School he completed residency and fellowship training in at Duke University, where he developed an interest in clinical informatics while serving as chief resident in internal medicine. Upon returning to Duke, he continued to develop his interest in the field by pursuing Duke’s first fellowship in clinical informatics and earning a Master of Management in Clinical Informatics.

“One of the biggest questions confronting health systems is how to make the best use of the immense data assets in caring for patients,” notes Michael Pencina, PhD, director of Duke AI Health, chief data scientist for Duke Health, and Vice Dean for Data Science in the Duke School of Medicine. “Dr. Bedoya has a rare combination of experience, enthusiasm, and training needed to make informed decisions about these assets to drive better and more equitable clinical outcomes.”

In his role as Chief Data Officer for Quality, Bedoya will also be responsible for determining whether the health system can best fulfill its mission by building its own technologies for managing and using health data, or engaging in partnerships with industry to build those capacities. He also brings to bear his experience serving in leadership roles on Duke’s Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight Committee, which provides governance for algorithmic applications used in clinical and research settings at Duke Health. In addition, his interest in stakeholder engagement is reflected in his research projects at Duke, which include an NIH-funded investigation into implementing an AI-powered clinical decision support system.

“Ultimately, adaptability and clear communication are the fundamentals we need to build our capacity to leverage health data for the benefit of the people we serve,” notes Bedoya, who adds that breaking down silos to ensure that all stakeholders are able to take part in the process of evaluating, developing, and deploying data technologies is critical for success.

As he moves into his new role, Bedoya will continue to serve as Associate Chief Medical Information Officer for Applied Data Science and as Medical Director/Co-lead for the Analytic Center of Excellence (ACE) at Duke Health.

“Dr. Bedoya has already demonstrated a sustained passion for putting data to work for patients,” says Eric Poon, MD, MPH, Chief Health Information Officer for Duke Medicine. “As Duke Heath works to meet the challenges of data driven healthcare, his leadership will be a key part of our success, whether developing our own in-house solutions or forging partnerships across academia and industry.”