Alan Dowling, PhD

Alan Dowling consults and researches internationally on health strategy; health information exchange; EHR and PHR adoption; technology-based process innovation and reengineering; and information systems design, adoption and outcome measurement. In addition to his work as a Weatherhead affiliate instructor, he teaches graduate courses in health information systems as an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University.

Dowling has published and lectured at leading institutions and conferences internationally on the adoption of health information technology, including EHRs and PHRs. He has over 35 years' experience in health informatics having, as a U.S. Air Force officer, developed the conceptual design for a worldwide DoD EHR in 1975.

Dowling recently served on the federal Office of the National Coordinator – Health Information Technology’s National Alliance Work Group on Defining Health Information Terms (EMR, EHR, and PRH). He was a member of the Clinton Administration’s Healthcare Reform Task Force; the Information Management Task Force of the JCAHO; the Health Information Infrastructure project of the Council on Competitiveness; the Long-Range Informatics Board of the National Cancer Institute; the federal National Nursing Minimum Data Set Task Force; and the Boards of the VNAA, Georgetown University’s School of Nursing & Health Sciences, the Healthcare Informatics Telecom Network, Health Matrix, and Clinical Data Management.

Formerly a partner with Ernst & Young, Dowling's positions included director, healthcare information technology, and director, global healthcare consulting. He previously served as president of HealthMagic Inc. (an early PHR start-up); as senior vice president of Covansys’ health division; as executive director of Noblis’ Center for Health Innovation; and as health services administrator and director of medical systems of governmental academic medical centers, hospitals and clinics (in which he designed an EMR intended for worldwide DoD use).

Dowling has also served as an assistant professor at the Schools of Medicine and Management at Case Western Reserve University, and as an adjunct professor at the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Georgetown.

His education includes doctoral work in healthcare management and management information systems and graduate work in computer science and engineering management with an emphasis in health systems.

Education

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MCS, University of Dayton
MS, Northeastern University
AB, College of the Holy Cross