Dr. William Tierney William Tierney, MD is a general internist with specialty training in medical informatics and health system research who currently serves as Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean for Population Health & Health Outcomes at Indiana University’s Fairbanks School of Public Health. Dr. Tierney is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in developing, implementing and studying electronic medical records (EMRs) and health information technologies.
During his first 36 years at Indiana University and the Regenstrief Institute, Dr. Tierney focused on improving health care delivery through enhanced health systems, especially advancing EMRs and health information systems. His efforts led to the creation and first implementation of OpenMRS, one of the world's most widely adopted EMR platforms, which has been implemented in over 50 countries. He played a key role in implementing OpenMRS in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, all nations where it became the national EMR system.
In addition to his work in informatics, Dr. Tierney has held several leadership positions, including president and CEO of the Regenstrief Institute, Associate Dean of Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine for Eskenazi Health, the country’s fourth largest safety net health system. He has also served as the Founding Director of Informatics and Research for the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), a collaboration between North American universities and Moi University in Kenya. To date, this program has received more than $300 million for HIV/AIDS and chronic disease care and $260 million in research and training grants, more than 80% from NIH.
Dr. Tierney was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2006 and has received the highest career recognition award in four disciplines: the Glaser Award for Contributions to Generalism and Eisenberg Award for Research from the Society of General Internal Medicine, the Collen Award from the American College of Medical Informatics, the Career Achievement Award from the Association for Clinical and Translational Science, and the Feinstein Award for Clinical Epidemiology from the American College of Physicians. Besides being elected to fellowship in the American College of Medical Informatics, Bill is an Inaugural Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London
In 2015, Dr. Tierney joined the University of Texas at Austin as the Founding Chair of the Department of Population Health at the Dell Medical School and helped develop the Global Health Program that is replicating Indiana University’s AMPATH model with a partner medical school in Puebla, México. He returned to Indiana University in 2021 to continue his work in improving population health and health outcomes in the Fairbanks School of Public Health.