Faculty Spotlights
Get to Know Our Clinical Informatics Faculty
Ryan Jelinek, DO
Introduction
Dr. Ryan Jelinek, MD, serves as Chief Health Information Office (CHIO) at Hennepin Healthcare. Originally on track for a critical care fellowship, Ryan discovered clinical informatics as a perfect fit for his passion: solving complex problems and designing better workflows. Known early in his career as a physician who could make technology work for providers, he now leads system-level strategies to align technology with patient care and clinician experience.
Leadership and Change Management
Ryan's leadership journey began with building and launching a clinical informatics fellowship. Over time, he transitioned from individual contributor to system-level leader, focusing on designing future pathways rather than doing all the work himself. He emphasizes that effective leadership means enabling teams to operate at the top of their skill set, setting standards, and creating accountability. His advice: avoid micromanagement—trust your teams and provide vision, not control.
Health IT and EHR Implementation
One of Ryan's most challenging projects was authenticated scheduling—a system-wide initiative to standardize scheduling and enable patient self-scheduling via MyChart. The project taught lessons in scope management and governance, as vendor changes and evolving requirements forced mid-course pivots. Ryan stresses the importance of clear business and technical requirements, handshake meetings, and alignment on scope to prevent scope creep and ensure success.
Data Analytics and Governance
Ryan advocates for leveraging data proactively rather than reactively. While many organizations use data to measure success after implementation, he pushes for using analytics to set strategy and guide real-time decisions. His work on length-of-stay optimization illustrates this approach: building systems to capture discrete milestones, standardizing processes, and creating dashboards that enable proactive patient flow management.
Clinical Decision and Care Process Improvement
Clinical Decision Support (CDS) is evolving beyond static alerts. Ryan envisions dynamic, AI-driven systems that learn from patterns and provide timely, context-aware guidance. Current efforts focus on monitoring existing alerts, evaluating effectiveness, and iterating quickly based on data. Future CDS will integrate predictive analytics to anticipate needs—such as early sepsis detection—rather than relying on rigid, prescriptive rules.
Human Factors and Education
Ryan highlights the psychological shift required for leaders moving from individual contribution to system design. He draws parallels to calm, effective code leadership—where success means the leader is almost invisible. He also notes generational differences in digital literacy and the rise of tools like ChatGPT, urging informaticists to adapt workflows and education strategies to meet evolving expectations.
Ethics and Professionalism
Ethical challenges in informatics, especially around AI, require humility and transparency. Ryan promotes honest conversations about limitations and unknowns, inviting feedback to mitigate bias and unintended consequences. Professionalism, he adds, means respecting the emotional impact of system changes on clinicians and maintaining trust through clear communication.
Future Directions
Ryan's advice to trainees: embrace adaptability, learn data fundamentals, and develop leadership skills that prioritize vision over control. Informatics offers immense opportunities, but success depends on collaboration and continuous learning. 'If you do your job well as a leader, people may not even notice you were there–and that's the goal,' he says, underscoring the importance of designing systems that evolve responsibly.
Kevin Larsen, MD
Introduction
Kevin Larsen, MD, serves as senior vice president for clinical innovation at Optum. He trained at Hennepin and the University of Minnesota, where he discovered informatics during his time as chief resident, before EHRs were commonplace. Kevin’s career spans clinical practice, health services research, and national policy leadership at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Today, he focuses on building EHR-agnostic decision support tools and advancing interoperability standards.
Leadership and Change Management
Kevin’s leadership journey began in medical education and expanded into informatics through roles such as CMIO at Hennepin Healthcare. He emphasizes that successful change management requires relentless communication and alignment with clinical leadership. His approach: make technology changes about clinical practice, not IT. By engaging program directors, nurse managers, and even leveraging residents as champions, Kevin transformed resistance into collaboration. His mantra: communicate early, often, and through trusted clinical voices.
Health IT and EHR Implementation
Kevin led one of the first Big Bang Epic implementations in an academic medical center—40 clinics and all inpatient units in just 18 months. The project introduced inpatient psychiatry and other firsts. Lessons learned: prioritize consistency across departments, simplify workflows, and adopt "reductive innovation," removing unnecessary features to ensure safety and usability. Organizational clarity and visible commitment were key to success.
Data Analytics and Governance
A former health services researcher, Kevin has championed data-driven care since the early days of EHR adoption. He stresses that most organizations under-resource analytics and lack end-to-end data expertise. His principle: "Data gets better with use." Continuous feedback loops improve data quality and inform workflow design. At Optum, Kevin applies these lessons to build scalable, standards-based solutions that leverage SNOMED, ICD, and advanced analytics.
Clinical Decision Support and Care Process Improvement
Kevin defines clinical decision support broadly—beyond alerts to include interface design and workflow optimization. His team employs user observation, prototyping, and post-go-live validation to refine tools like medication recommenders. He advocates rigorous evaluation of AI-driven CDS, applying the same standards as clinical trials to ensure safety and effectiveness. For Kevin, CDS must guide care intuitively, not overwhelm clinicians with noise.
Human Factors and Education
Human factors are central to Kevin’s philosophy. From universal design principles to environmental cues like medication prep zones, he views usability holistically. Educational strategies include leveraging residents and pre-med students as peer trainers to ease adoption among faculty. Consistency in design and signaling reduces cognitive load and supports safe, efficient care.
Ethics and Professionalism
Kevin warns against "magic thinking" in AI adoption. Ethical informatics demands transparency, rigorous testing, and clinician advocacy for safety. He also highlights challenges in balancing efficiency with integrity, such as resisting pressure to over-automate coding and billing. Professionalism, he notes, includes calling out unsafe practices and maintaining trust during system changes.
Future Directions
Kevin’s advice to trainees: think in five-year increments—the job you’ll have may not exist yet. Stay curious, embrace interdisciplinary learning, and draw from design, lean principles, and human factors to solve complex problems. Informatics is about care, not technology. Keep patients at the center while building systems that evolve responsibly.
Ryan Sagorski, MS
Introduction
Ryan Sagorski, MS, serves as senior clinical informaticist at Hennepin Healthcare, focusing on acute care and emergency department workflows. His career spans pediatric trauma, electrophysiology research, and infection prevention before transitioning into informatics. Ryan’s journey reflects a deep commitment to improving patient outcomes and clinician experience through technology and data-driven solutions.
Leadership and Change Management
Ryan pursued leadership in clinical informatics to amplify impact across patients and clinicians. He emphasizes transparency and honesty in change management, acknowledging limitations and educating stakeholders about realistic expectations. His approach builds trust through vulnerability and open dialogue, ensuring that projects align with organizational priorities while maintaining integrity.
Health IT and EHR Implementation
A major initiative Ryan leads is a multi-year project to reduce hospital length of stay. This effort spans emergency, surgical, and inpatient teams, leveraging dashboards, documentation redesign, and predictive AI models. He notes that success depends on explaining the “why” behind workflow changes to secure buy-in for goals that may seem less glamorous but are critical for patient care and hospital efficiency.
Data Analytics and Governance
Ryan chairs the Alerts Committee, driving data-informed decisions for clinical workflows. He advocates for simplifying analytics for end-users, stressing that data must tell a clear story to guide governance and feedback. From basic compliance tracking to advanced AI models predicting discharge readiness, Ryan’s work illustrates how informatics evolves alongside organizational needs.
Clinical Decision Support and Care Process Improvement
Clinical Decision Support (CDS) is central to Ryan’s philosophy: tools should guide, not dictate. He cautions against over-reliance on interruptive alerts, which often fail and can introduce errors. Instead, Ryan promotes context-aware solutions embedded in workflows, balancing safety with usability.
Human Factors and Education
Ryan underscores the importance of human factors in informatics. Generational differences in digital literacy and rapid adoption of tools like ChatGPT require adaptive strategies. Building relationships and feedback loops ensures that technology supports clinicians rather than disrupts care.
Ethics and Professionalism
Ethical considerations, especially around AI, demand humility and transparency. Ryan advocates for continuous dialogue, acknowledging unknowns and inviting feedback to mitigate bias and unintended consequences. Professionalism, he notes, includes respecting the emotional impact of system changes on frontline staff.
Future Directions
Ryan’s advice to trainees: stay curious, embrace feedback, and learn data fundamentals. Informatics offers vast opportunities, but success hinges on adaptability and collaboration. “It’s an exciting yet overwhelming field—lean on your peers and keep learning,” he says, envisioning a future where AI and human insight converge for patient-centered care.