Mark is an internist trained in hematology oncology who was a Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean at Washington University School of Medicine. He left Washington University to become a Vice President at Express Scripts. There he had the opportunity to help create consumer web sites for over 60 million members. He also ran their Practice Patterns Science subsidiary and later became Chief Medical Officer.
He subsequently explored the real world of health care technology by joining First Consulting Group. While there he was involved in a range of engagements. The most long-standing included a large-scale quality study for Texas Health Resources and an ambitious clinical information system implementation for Allina in Minneapolis.

For the past nine years, he’s been the Accenture Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University. In 2010 he was granted a secondary appointment as Professor of Management in the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and more recently in the School of Nursing. Through these positions he has extensive contact with students both in the Medical Center and in the Owen Graduate School of Management.

Working with the support of Governor Phil Bredesen on a five-year project funded by AHRQ and the State of Tennessee, Mark and his amazing colleagues  created a regional health information exchange involving all major providers in the Memphis area. The Exchange has comprehensive data sharing agreements and supports care for over 1,200,000 people. It has been in operation for since May of 2006. As of 2010, Mark and Vanderbilt's role have diminished. As intended, the effort is now managed entirely by its Memphis Board and services are largely provided through Informatics Corporation of America. Mark is in the process of writing up the results of this ambitious experience. Formal evaluation has shown statistically significant financial savings through the use of health information exchange in the emergency department settings.

Mark is now focusing efforts on national efforts, research, and teaching.  As a participant in the ONC-sponsored SHARP initiative in privacy research, he and Vanderbilt colleagues are applying novel domain modeling techniques to "gateways" among various health care delivery organizations. Modeled on evolving NHIN specifications and incorporating both federal and institutional policies, he and his group are trying to create a uniform approach to security and privacy across a range of "external" services including web portals, PHRs, remote monitoring, secure messaging, and population health reporting. 

Mark has focused on a number of areas.

Cicero, Tusculan Disuptations [link]

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