Donald Novak, M.D., a professor of pediatrics and vice chair for clinical affairs and patient safety in the department of pediatrics, has been appointed assistant dean for clinical informatics at the UF College of Medicine.
In this newly created role, Novak will work to enhance the recent implementation of the Epic electronic medical records system for inpatient and hospital-based programs. He will serve as a liaison between the medical staff and IT senior leadership in an effort to help clinical faculty deploy and customize Epic technology to provide the best possible experience to patients.
Initially, Novak will focus on prioritizing projects and addressing concerns that are most critical to faculty in their efforts to take care of patients. He will lead a clinical systems governance process to both engage faculty and other front-end users to ensure that IT solutions are in line with our clinical needs.
Novak’s management experience in clinical affairs, together with his strong interest in developing patient safety strategies, make him an ideal candidate to assist in identifying best practices for optimizing the use of the Epic EMR at UF&Shands.
As assistant dean for clinical informatics, Novak will also assist in the planning, selection, implementation and performance assessment of clinical IT systems, working with vendors to assure maximum effectiveness of the system.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from UF, Novak attended medical school at the University of South Florida, and was awarded the Dean’s Award as an outstanding graduate in 1981. He was a resident in Pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine, and then at the University of South Florida, where he served as chief resident. His fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology was performed at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Novak has been at UF since 1990. An outstanding clinician and teacher, Novak is also an accomplished researcher, working to understand how fetal nutrition impacts health during adult life.