The Standard

Five new Steering Committee members will bring unique insights to an upcoming slate of HL7 FHIR use cases in oncology, cardiovascular health, and genomics.

CodeX, the HL7® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Accelerator™ working to advance the adoption of FHIR as the standard to obtain high-quality, computable data for patient care and research, including the domains of oncology, cardiovascular health, and genomics, announced an expanded steering committee and new members of its leadership team.

“These experts in their fields are committed to helping CodeX develop and implement a strategic vision for the future with integrity, fairness, and equity. We embrace the HL7 ethos of collaboration and community to collectively solve interoperability challenges,” said Su Chen, M.D., program manager and clinical director of CodeX & digital health clinical principal at MITRE. In her role, Chen serves as chair of the CodeX Steering Committee.

Steering Committee Expansion

The CodeX community identifies use cases to address real-world challenges where application of data standards has the potential to improve care delivery and patient outcomes while reducing stakeholder burden. In the oncology space, CodeX members work to integrate and test the minimal Common Oncology Data Elements (mCODE™) FHIR Implementation Guide to help develop an open standard language for cancer care and research. Members will take on similar challenges in newer areas of focus by developing and testing use cases for exchanging cardiovascular data and building infrastructure to advance genomics research and clinical care.

In order to achieve broader representation and engagement from key stakeholders in a structured, transparent, and organized manner, the CodeX Steering Committee expanded from two to seven members. Each member represents a specific association or organization type, including the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (ACTO), Evernorth Health Services (the pharmacy, care and benefits solutions division of The Cigna Group) and Ontada (an oncology solutions provider). The expanded committee will determine which new use cases to advance and how to best use new and existing resources to achieve shared goals in interoperability and data exchange.

The new members hail from across academia, industry, and clinical care:

• Adam Dicker, M.D., Ph.D., FASTRO, FASCO, chair and professor of Radiation Oncology, Pharmacology, and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University; affiliated with CodeX member ASTRO
• Charles Mayo, Ph.D. FAAPM, FASTRO professor and director of Radiation Oncology Informatics & Analytics, University of Michigan; vice chair, AAPM Data Science Committee; and chair, AAPM Big Data Subcommittee; affiliated with CodeX member AAPM
• Sorena Nadaf, M.S., MMI, chief data & informatics officer for Alliance Data Innovation Lab; affiliated with CodeX member ACTO
• Heather Trimble, vice president, Product Strategy & Growth, eviCore healthcare; affiliated with CodeX member Evernorth Health Services
• Wanmei Ou, Ph.D., vice president of Product, Ontada; affiliated with CodeX member Ontada

Leadership Team Evolution

Dr. Bratt served as chair of the CodeX Steering Committee from its inception until December 2022 and was key to the launch and growth of CodeX and the development and publication of the mCODE™ FHIR Implementation Guide to help develop an open standard language for cancer care and research. After more than five years in MITRE leadership, Dr. Bratt assumed a consultative role with MITRE, effective January 1, 2023. His leadership of CodeX convened a diverse community to work together to accelerate data standards adoption, addressing real-world challenges aimed at improving patient care and research journeys.

Dr. Chen noted, “Steve’s leadership has been instrumental to leading CodeX to where we are today. It's Steve's belief in the power of community in driving healthcare innovation that has led to building the vibrant CodeX community and consequently the growing footprint that mCODE and its extensions have in real world pilots and implementations.

“On behalf of a grateful CodeX Community, we appreciate the dedication and tireless contributions Dr. Bratt has made to CodeX and celebrate his impact in healthcare data interoperability.”

Effective January 1, 2023, Dr. Chen added CodeX program manager to her CodeX clinical director role and now serves as Steering Committee chair. Dr. Chen is an emergency medicine physician, computer scientist, and health information systems leader who joined MITRE in 2021. She has extensive experience directing informatics in varied health settings and is committed to CodeX’s vision of advancing health interoperability with the belief that leveraging open-source standards can help drive the next wave of digital innovation to the fore.

Additional program management changes occurred in the fall:

Michele Galioto, D.N.P., R.N., C.N.S. assumed the deputy program manager role in September 2022. Dr. Galioto has over 25 years of oncology nursing, program management, and member organization leadership experience. She succeeds Kim Ball, who was instrumental in establishing operations, onboarding staff and members, supporting use cases, and engaging stakeholders to build and activate the growing CodeX community.

Liz Canzone, Ph.D., also joined the program management team as CodeX director of operations and deputy program manager. Dr. Canzone also hails from MITRE and has a wealth of project management expertise, having supported strategic and tactical tasks related to a National Patient Safety Partnership; the safe use of health information technology; and most recently COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

The new representatives began their term in January of 2023, joining the two existing members: Dr. Chen and HL7 CEO Chuck Jaffe, M.D., Ph.D.

“We know that there will always be more potential use cases than any single entity can explore on its own, which is why we’re leveraging this broader committee to zero in on the most promising, high-impact areas of study,” said Steve Bratt, Ph.D., outgoing chair of the CodeX Steering Committee and program manager and principal, Health Standards and Interoperability at MITRE.

“We are very excited to open this new chapter for CodeX and continue to build on our successes so far. HL7 FHIR is already doing so much to bring better care to patients in the real world, and we are eager and honored to contribute our time, skills, and resources to this crucial mission,” he said.