Biography
Dr. Dixon currently serves as the Director of Public Health Informatics and an Associate Professor at the Indiana University (IU) Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health as well as the Regenstrief Institute’s Center for Biomedical Informatics. In addition, Dr. Dixon serves as an Investigator in Residence at the Center on Health Information and Communication, which is part of the Health Services Research & Development Service at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Dixon’s research focuses on applying informatics methods and tools to improve population health in clinical as well as public health organizations. His work leverages clinical and administrative data in electronic health records to measure population health, better understand the determinants of health, examine information flow in the health system, and improve outcomes in individuals and populations. Dr. Dixon teaches informatics courses to future clinical as well as public health leaders, and he regularly mentors junior informatics professionals.
Dr. Dixon has published over 115 peer-reviewed publications in highly respected journals, including Pediatrics, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, American Journal of Preventative Medicine, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, Vaccine, Public Health Reports, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, and Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. He has further published 25 chapters in books, including Population Health Informatics: Driving Evidence-Based Solutions into Practice (2017) as well as Clinical Decision Support: The Road to Broad Adoption (2014).
He is further the editor of three highly acclaimed books: Clinical Informatics Study Guide: Text and Review (2016), Health Information Exchange: Navigating and Managing a Network of Health Information Systems (2016), and Public Health Informatics and Information Systems, 3rd Edition (2020). The HIE book received the Book of the Year award from the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in 2017. In 2018, Dr. Dixon was named a Research Frontiers Trailblazer by IUPUI, and he was elected to Fellowship within the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI). Previously, Dr. Dixon was recognized as a Forty Under 40 recipient by the Indianapolis Business Journal and Outstanding Investigator by the Regenstrief Institute’s Center for Biomedical Informatics. He is also a Fellow of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
Before joining the faculty at Indiana University, Dr. Dixon managed research and development projects for Regenstrief and the Indiana Health Information Exchange. Dr. Dixon also developed health information applications and systems, including tools supporting the standard clinical vocabulary LOINC®, technology supporting the automated reporting of notifiable conditions to public health agencies, and tools for querying large clinical data repositories. Dr. Dixon earned his Bachelor of Arts in computer science from DePauw University; his Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University; and his Doctor of Philosophy in Health Informatics from Indiana University.
Research Interests
Dr. Dixon’s research focuses on applying informatics methods and tools to improve population health in clinical as well as public health organizations. His work leverages clinical and administrative data in electronic health records to improve population outcomes, better understand threats to public health as well as care delivery processes, examine public health business processes, and make population surveillance more efficient. Dr. Dixon’s research also involves the design, implementation, and evaluation of information infrastructures as well as data quality in support of continuous use of electronic data.
Courses Taught
As a faculty member in IU’s Fairbanks School of Public Health, Dr. Dixon teaches courses on informatics as well as health information exchange to future leaders in clinical and public health.
Dr. Dixon teaches the following courses:
- Foundations of Public Health Informatics (PBHL-E635)
- Health Information Exchange for Population Health (PBHL-E645)
- Leadership Challenges in Global Health Informatics (PBHL-H763)