On September 6, 2017, the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics celebrated its new, three-discipline name with a sizable event in the Smilow Center for Translational Research, where these photos were taken.
When the Department was established in 1994, it comprised two complementary disciplines: epidemiology and biostatistics. Over the past two decades, the field of population-health science has matured extensively. The model of human health now embraces a complex array of demographic, environmental, behavioral, organizational and biological factors. Recognizing that the data sciences had become essential to the pursuit of new information about population health and about individualized and personalized care, the Department worked with the PSOM to create new structures to help integrate informatics formally into our research programs.
In 2014, Dean J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, and the Perelman School of Medicine appointed the first permanent director of the PSOM's new Institute for Biomedical Informatics: Jason Moore, PhD, FACMI. At that time, we created the Division of Informatics within what was then still called the DBE, and invited Dr. Moore to become its founding director.
Most recently, our faculty chose a new name that telegraphs the interactions and synergies across our three disciplines and that also cites each of them, recognizing their distinctive aspects and unique contributions to their respective national communities. With the name DBEI, we help to position Penn Medicine as a leader in population-health science.