Biography

Dr. Joshua R. Vest is a professor in the Department of Health Policy & Management and Associate Dean for Research at the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University Indianapolis. He directs the Center for Health Policy and is affiliated with the Regenstrief Institute, bringing leadership in advancing public health research infrastructure and collaborations across disciplines.

Dr. Vest’s research focuses on the adoption, use, and impact of health information technologies—especially systems that enable secure sharing of patient information across organizations—to improve clinical, organizational, and population health outcomes. His work combines diverse methodological tools and aims to inform policy, system design, and public health practice.

Current research focus

Dr. Vest is currently advancing studies on health information exchange, health information technology adoption, and how information systems can reduce hospital readmissions, improve care continuity, and integrate social determinants of health data to enhance population outcomes.

TitleRoleSponsorPeriodFunding Type
Estimating the impact of anti-obesity medications on direct and indirect costs of obesity (008555196)Co-Principal InvestigatorEli Lilly & Company12/2024-11/2029Corporate
Predictive modeling for social needs in emergency department settings (1R01HS028008-01)Principal InvestigatorAgency for Healthcare Research & Quality5/2021-4/2026Federal
Computable social factor phenotyping using EHR and HIE data (1R01HS028636-01)Principal InvestigatorAgency for Healthcare Research & Quality9/2021-8/2026Federal
Skilled Nursing Facility Participation in Health Information Exchange and Quality of Care for Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (1R01AG072605-01A1)Co-InvestigatorNational Institutes of Health – National Institute on Aging7/2022-6/2025Federal

Selected publications

  1. Vest JR, Wu W, Gregory ME, Kasturi SN, Mendonca EA, Bian J, Magoc T, Grannis S, McNamee C, Harle CA. Performance of 4 methods to assess health-related social needs. JAMA Network Open. 8(8):e2527426; 2025. doi.org/jamanetworkopen.2025.27426.
  2. Gregory ME, Kasturi SN, Majoc T, McNamee C, Harle CA, Vest JR. Development and validation of computable social phenotypes for health-related social needs. JAMIA Open. 8(1): ooae150; 2025. doi: 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooae150. PMCID: PMC11706536.
  3. Mazurenko O, Hirsh A, Harle CA, Shen J, McNamee C, Vest JR. Comparing the performance of screening surveys versus predictive models in identifying patients in need of health-related social need services in the emergency department. PLoS ONE. 19(11): e0312193; 2024. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312193. PMCID: PMC11578524.
  4. Harle CA, Wu W, Vest JR. Accuracy of food insecurity, housing instability, & financial strain screening in adult primary care. Journal of the American Medical Association. 329(5):423-424; 2023. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.23631. PMID: 36749341.
  5. Allen KS, Hood D, Cummins J, Kasturi S, Mendonca EA, Vest JR. Natural Language Processing-driven State Machines to Extract Social Factors from Unstructured Clinical Documentation. JAMIA Open. 6(2):ooad024; 2023. doi: 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooad024. PMCID: PMC10112959

Teaching

Courses taught

  • Contemporary Health Issues
  • PhD Seminar: Health Policy & Management Challenges
  • Population & Public Health

Students mentored

  • PhD and master’s students

Estimating the Impact of Obesity Medications on Clinical and Economic Outcomes

Joshua Vest, associate dean for research, introduces a new five-year partnership led by the Fairbanks School of Public Health to study the real-world clinical, economic, and workplace impacts of obesity medications using data from Indiana employers.

In the news