Fifty years in medical informatics

An overview of personal experiences in medical informatics based on Dr. Morris Collen's 50 years of research in the field.

A personal reminiscence and historical overview, focusing on the first two decades of medical informatics, when Dr. Collen began working with Dr. Sidney Garfield, the founder of Kaiser Permanente, leading to his involvement in computer-based medical care, through the development of the pioneering Automated Multiphasic Health Testing (AMHT) system, which they introduced into Kaiser clinics in Oakland and San Francisco.

Statistical models for medical decision-making based on consultations with Jerzy Neyman and George Dantzig were incorporated into the AMHT, and tested on a large database of cases. Meetings with other pioneers in medical informatics at the Karolinska Institute led to the formation of the early society Salutas Unitas, and the many national and international collaborations which followed during the first two decades helped coalesce the field as clinicians and researchers investigated problems of medical data, decision support, and laboratory, hospital, and library information systems.

Dr. Collen's research and his many medical informatics activities significantly contributed to the growth of the field. The U.S. contributions are covered extensively in his book, A History of Medical Informatics in the United States, 1950-1990. Washington, DC: Am Med Informatics Association 1995.