Mark E. Frisse, MD ’78, HS ’82, MBA ’97
Mark E. Frisse, MD ’78, HS ’82, MBA ’97, the Accenture Professor of Biomedical Informatics and vice chair of business development at Vanderbilt University, focuses on economic sustainability and technical and administrative measures that enable effective care coordination and boost security and privacy. Recognized as a pioneer of modern medical informatics, his achievements epitomize the university’s mission to train leaders who will shape the future of medicine.
One of the first to recognize the potential medical impact of the World Wide Web, Frisse identified entirely new ways of using computing and information technology to improve health care for individuals and communities. In the 1990s, he designed, built, and evaluated one of the first comprehensive clinical decision support systems that was fully integrated with health care providers’ information systems, which was used for many years by BJC HealthCare.
Between 2005 and 2011, Frisse led the development and oversight of a health information exchange for the greater Memphis area. This exchange has become the gold standard for increasing the quality, safety, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of health care. As associate dean at the School of Medicine from 1992−99, Frisse directed the Bernard Becker Medical Library, where he instituted digital library services.
He founded the Medical Informatics Laboratory in the Department of Medicine and directed a National Library of Medicine Training Program in Biomedical Informatics. As a loyal alumnus, he has been a generous supporter and has encouraged other alumni to engage with the School of Medicine.
Frisse has authored more than 90 scientific papers and book chapters. His awards include the Upjohn Prize for Metabolism Research, the Ida & George Elliot Prize from the Medical Library Association, and the Don Eugene Detmer Award for Health Policy Contributions in Informatics from the American Medical Informatics Association. He is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Medical Informatics, and the New York Academy of Medicine, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1974 and his MD from Washington University in 1978. Between 1978 and 1983, he was a resident in internal medicine, a postdoctoral fellow in hematology and oncology, an instructor in internal medicine and chief resident in internal medicine, all at Washington University. He was on the university’s faculty from 1983 to 1999 but also earned a master’s degree in medical information science from Stanford University in 1987 and an MBA from Washington University in 1997. He left academia in 1999 for Express Scripts and moved to First Consulting Group in 2002. In 2004, he was recruited by Vanderbilt University. The Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association is pleased to present its Alumni Achievement Award to Dr. Frisse.